Friend Lover Stranger?
by KatieWoo
Summary: Kimberly Carter- daughter of Dixie Carter is in love with her best friend Jeff Hardy, but he's dating another woman. Kimberly is also in a 'no strings' situation with the X Division Champion, who might just be falling for her. Just when things couldn't sound worse for the Knockout, her mom finds out that she's secretly married to one of the stars also. Dis-continued
1. Chapter 1

**AN: hello, I know I'm back way sooner than even I had planned, but this idea has been buzzing around my head for what feels like a god damn eternity, I don't know how long or short this story will be or even if it's any good, so lets just see where it takes us. I get a feeling is sucks the big one, so if it vanishes one day- sorry it was a mercy killing ;)**

**R&R please.**

**I only own my Oc's **

Friend? Lover? Stranger?

Chapter 1

Kimberly Carter had to get out of the arena, shit had just hit the fan and she didn't want her mom and step dad breathing down her neck, you couldn't get a minutes peace around there! Nothing was private, Jesus is was worse than fucking high school!

''Kim get back here!''

She carried on walking, head down, her knee high biker boots pounding on the concrete of the hall way as she tried to make her escape-

''Mom, please back off, this is _my _mess, not yours.''

Dixie Carter ran after her eldest daughter the best that she could given that she was wearing heels. The woman would not let her first born child get away that easily.

Kimberly knew this attempted escape was a total bust now, so she turned letting her tears be seen by her mother and the look of pity was her undoing-

''Go ahead say it, yell at me, tell me I'm a disappointment to the Carter name, I'm...I'm a disgrace for not telling you.''

Dixie pushed her daughters long bangs away from her eyes, wiping the falling tears away-

''I guess I don't have to ask if what I heard was true or not huh?''

Kim let out a small laugh- ''You heard correct.''

''Well.'' Dixie sighed- ''Lets go to my office and talk this out over a really big strong drink.''

(Kimberly Carter)

_Ok let me get you up to speed here, because you've found me with panda eyes about to have a break down in a fucking corridor for Christ's sake._

_Well, I'm the boss ladies daughter, I'm 26, yes, my mom had me at 21, out of wedlock, judge her if you dare! _

_We won't be getting I to who my father is, I'm probably in for years of therapy in later years over that pricks identity. I swear I'd kill the guy sooner than sit down and talk to him, the man is the devil!_

_I'm one of TNA's Knockouts and so far the only one with natural D-cups. Yes this is a point of pride with me, if you worked in a place like this, where you can't pull a roundhouse without colliding with a plastic tit, you'd take pride where you could too._

_Let me clarify- I'm not a nearly naked ass wiggler who does a few back flips and calls it wrestling. I tag with my best friend Jessica Kresa aka- ODB, so that should tell you all you need to know. We're ass kickers and we're also the reigning Knockouts Tag Team Champions._

_My lovely mom over heard me and Jess talking about my little ''indiscretion'' also known as my fuck up of the century!_

''Here, drink this.''Dixie said handing Kim a pretty big measure of Jack Daniels as they sat on the sofa in her office.

''Thanks.'' She pushed her bangs back into place over her left eye. Then she realised that she was still wearing the little face paint detail that Jeff had painted on her earlier for her match. It was around the outer edge of her left eye.

Dixie watched her daughter tear through her bag and pull out a pack of face wipes, knock back half of her drink and start roughly scrubbing at her face paint. She could see the pain on her face, it was all in her huge green eyes-

''Stop, stop, let me do that for you.''

Kim let her mother help her, her bangs got swept aside and her make up was very gently removed.

She looked down at her stunning daughter, who hid so much beneath her hair and in ring paint. She saw the scar she his, from the corner of her left eye to her hair line. It was a huge point of anxiety for her and she smoothed her dark hair back in pace, just how she liked it.

''There you go, beautiful again.''

Kim shuddered at the sentiment-

''Hardly mom.''

''You never believe me...anyway we need to talk, we've got just under an hour before the show ends, so-.''

Kim drained her glass and blew out a breath- ''So, you know it all.''

''I know enough to know you drunkenly got married in Vegas, 18 months ago. The questions are- why didn't you tell me? And why are you two _still married?''_

Kim shrugged- ''I mentioned divorce _once _and he got all weird on me.''

''When did this ''weird'' part happen honey?''

She cringed- ''Last year...before Victory Road.''

''No wonder he fucked up my PPV. Does Daniel know?''

Daniel Solwold aka- Austin Aries.

''No and we're _just friends_, he doesn't need to know.'' she said hoping to god her mom believed her.

Dixie arched a brow and smirked- ''Bullshit, but you're a grown woman it's up to you. So you end up drunk in Vegas, married to your best guy friend- whom I suspect you're _in love with,_ man you really are my daughter- drama queen!''

Kim was hurting so badly- ''Can we _not _do this again? Whether I love him or not, he's dating Gail Kim and I don't want to get involved with her. He's my best guy friend and I'd like to keep it that way.''

''Then we need to get _my lawyer_ on the case, he's very discreet, I'll make a call ok?''

She sighed nodding- ''Don't tell Serg, I can't handle him punching Jeff ok?''

Dixie laughed, Serg was very protective of his step daughter, he thought that she needed protecting from any thing with a cock under the age of 60!

''Agreed. Now let me handle this ok honey?''

''Thanks mom.'' she hugged her and left the office.

Behind her she heard the voice that just set her teeth on edge- Gail-

''Well hey there scar face.''

Kimberly looked at the petite Canadian beauty and saw everything Jeff could ever want in a woman and felt like crap about herself. She quickly checked her scar was covered and got herself ready to go head to head-

''Go fuck yourself Gail! Like I give a shit about what comes out of that cum-trap of a mouth of yours!''

(Kimberly)

_Ok, did I forget to tell you? Sorry my bad- I fucking hate this bitch and it goes back way before Jeff started fucking her. This tiny whore is the bane of my contempt! Oh and I have a really dirty mouth when I see her. I can't help myself, it's like breathing, the insults and filth just flows. My grand parents would be utterly ashamed of me!_

''You're disgusting!'' Gail sneered.

''Yeah, you going somewhere with that keen observation? No? Great!'' she said heading to the door to the parking lot, flipping the bitch off over her shoulder as she walked.

Jess met Kim by their rental- ''Who might you be texting Miss Carter?''

'Daniel.'' Kim grinned.

Jeff let out a big throaty chuckle- ''Is that a booty text?''

''Hey, he;s my friend and it's once again time for the _benefit _part of our deal to kick in. I need to unwind.''

''_Unwind? _Is that what the kids are calling it these days? Just don't let hubby-Jeff find out, he'll go all nutter- butter on you again. You don't want a repeat of when poor AJ asked you out again.''

Kim cringed into her sleeve- ''Don't! Poor AJ got a kick in the nuts on national TV for that.''

Jess laughed as they drove- ''Babe, half the USA remembers that night.''

In the guys locker room, Daniel picked up the text and all it said was-

_''Room 112, bring the cape. Lol .x.''_

He laughed to himself- ''Crazy girl.''

''Who might that be Aries?'' James Storm inquired.

''Couldn't tell you if I wanted to James.''

Dan grinned thinking about Kimberly, he didn't want to get in too deep, but it was getting harder and harder, she was so special to him. She was his green eyes angel, they could hang out as just friends and he could just be himself. They also had mind blowing sex too, but they did have rules when it came to their liaisons- no over nighters, no jealousy, no kissing on the mouth, no ties and no demands and they could get out at any time, no questions asked.

Yet, he hated leaving after their time together, how he stopped himself form kissing her on the mouth was a mystery to him, she had those soft full lips, that he'd felt all over his body, resisting them was truly a credit to his self restraint!

Jeff eyed Dan from across the locker room, he didn't _dislike_ the X Division Champion, but he was always hanging around Kim, when Jeff wanted to spend time alone with her. This was going to be another AJ Styles all over again, he just knew it.

Yes things between himself and Kimberly were odd, to say the least, she was technically his wife in the eyes of the law, but she was also one of the very few people at the company who knew him properly. She'd stood by him through every one of his drug issues and never judged him or shunned him and he'd never forget that loyalty.

He loved her in a way that only he could understand and he didn't want to lose his best friend to another guy, even if they were _just friends. _Hey, he had his own reasons for not getting that divorce and they were nobodies business!

He wet his black and magenta hair, ready for his match, seeing Dan smile to himself, made Jeff chew his gum with a renewed vigour, nope he just couldn't shake the feeling that the X Division Champion was trying to hook up with Kim. No way was that going down, not on his watch! Not with _his wife!_

Jeff knew everything in that girls life, her fathers identity and what a prick he was to her, her childhood, her ex boyfriend and all about her pre TNA wrestling days on the indie circuit. He knew all of her quirks, her loves, her passions, nobody could touch their connection. In the 5 years he's shared with her, he'd shared more of himself with her than the friends he'd had his whole life.

The night she'd told him about her facial scarring, had been a big deal, the strangest thing was,_he'd _been the one choking up at the story not her.

In her hotel room, Kimberly looked at Jeff and said-

''Oh my god, Gail Kim is _fucking my husband.''_

Jess chuckled at the confused/disgusted look on her face as she finally said those dreaded words out loud-

''Don't look so shocked, I some how doubt you're the _only _woman able to say that sentence. That slut spreads as easy as soft butter!''

Kimberly smirked at her- ''Why am I getting mental images of 'Last Tango In Paris' going through my head when you say _butter?''_

Jeff laughed, throwing a cushion at her friends head- ''Because you're a sick bitch, anyway I'd better get out of here before you caped concubine arrives.''

''_Concubine? _I do prefer that word, it rolls off the tongue better than- _fuck buddy.''_ Kim nodded happily.

When she was alone, she put on some mascara and some tinted lip balm and tried to cover up that she'd been crying. Her mom had been incredible about the whole thing, she'd expected to get a dressing down that she'd never forget, she was grateful for her understanding. Now all she could think about was serving Jeff wit divorce papers and him falling off the wagon again. He'd been clean for over a year now and she didn't want to be his down fall.

The knock came, shaking her from her thoughts, she opened the door and there stood Daniel, 5ft9 of uncomplicated man, wrapped up in a strong, hot body that she loved getting to grips with. He had the type of blue eyes that made her melt and the skills to make her forget every last piece of pain that came from her mental torture. Torture that reminded her daily that her ''_husband_'' didn't love her the way that she loved him and that he was currently fucking another woman.

Sex was a very good distraction from life, even if it did leave her feeling hollow and ashamed once she was laid alone again.

**AN: I hope that was an ok start.**

**R&R please. xx.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thank you SO SO much for all the awesome reviews and fave alerts, you made my day I was expecting hate to be honest. Lol. But lets get the next chapter on the road and see where it takes us ;)**

**R&R**

**I only own my Ocs.**

Friend? Lover? Stranger?

Chapter 2

Jessica saw from the spyhole when Daniel got to Kimberly's room and she knew that in about an hour she'd have to pick up the pieces from the fall out of their little ''arrangement.'' In so many ways the 5ft6 brunette was the strongest woman that Jess knew, but in other ways she was also just a lost little girl.

She'd never say it to Kimberly's face, but that girl had big time father issues, ones that had her loving the oblivious Jeff and keeping the available nice guy- Dan at arms length, it was insanity, but unless Kim brought the subject up Jess was keeping her mouth shut and the booze on stand by.

Across the hall Daniel couldn't help but smile when he saw her, she had that innocent look to her again, with her long dark braids and those big green eyes, team that with the freckles and he was melting like chocolate. She wasn't fake like all the other women they worked with, she didn't have any funky orange tan or surgery scars, she was just nature intended- gorgeous!

She tip toed backwards to the bed, not taking her eyes off him. She didn't want to lose that connection and start thinking beyond what their bodies needed from each others. Break eye contact and you break concentration, not a good thing in her case.

Afterwards they lay exhausted beside each other, he turned on to his side, leaning over her, wanting so badly to kiss her, he knew that it'd be breaking one of their rules, but he didn't care, he liked her. His fingers traced her high cheek bone, loving the freckles on her skin and he smiled-

''Look at me.''

She smiled and looked at him, he was wearing that big sexy smirk, Jesus he could be charming without even trying-

''Ok, I'm looking, now what?''

''I want something else from you.''

''Why do I suddenly feel even more naked than I already am?'' she mused, pulling the covers a little tighter over her chest.

''Don't worry, I'm not about to pull out a gimp mask or anything, the cape is my kink limit.'' he chuckled- ''I want to know if you'll let me do something, a first for us.''

''What would that be?''

''I want to...kiss those beautiful lips of yours.''

Kimberly felt her throat tighten and she instantly drew back from him, shaking her head-

''No, sorry it's just too intimate.''

Dan sat up watching her flee the bed- ''_Too intimate? _Kim we just had sex, a kiss is just a kiss.''

''Then you don't need it if it's _just _a kiss.'' she said rapidly losing patience as she pulled her panties on and one of her man size 'Impact' t-shirts, raking her fingers through the loosened lengths of her hair.

Daniel knew that he was pushing her, he was running into a brick wall once again, she was upset and it killed him to watch it, he got his clothes back on and looked at her. The friend side of him kicked in and he wrapped her up in his arms-

''I'm sorry..I'm sorry I don't mean to pressure you.''

She wanted to push him away, she didn't want him to comfort her, not when she was technically committing _adultery _with him. Just thinking about it like that made her laugh into his chest.

At first he thought she was finally giving into her emotions and crying it out, but nope she was laughing into his chest!

''What's so funny down there?''

''Nothing at all, well nothing worth talking about at this hour.'' she pulled away and said- ''Thanks for showing up.''

He knew what that was, it was his signal to leave, ho nodded, dropping a soft kiss on to her cheek and he left.

Alone again.

She straightened up the bed and for a few minutes she could put Jeff out of her mind, but she felt that feeling stir, the one feeling that took her over to her bag, into her diary and to the back page, to the picture she had of them, smiling in Vegas, when they had gotten married as a drunken joke.

(_Kimberly)_

_When ever I look at that picture it makes me fucking nuts inside, because I look so damn happy and he's looking at me like I'd always hoped he'd look at me. I know now that that was all due to my legs being wrapped around his waist as he stood with his hands cupping my ass. This would have been enough, but my rack was also hiked up to hooker heights right in his booze soaked face._

_Then I'd remember our 'wedding night' For one night I got to pretend that he was my REAL husband, that it was done for love, not as a result of half price tequila shots in a bar on the strip._

_Clearly it fucked me up, because my so called best friend was the last guy to kiss me on the lips! How stupid is that?_

_Rhetorical question, don't answer it, I'm too pissed for an answer!_

_What kind of person does that make me? I can give my body to a man without feeling anything real, yet I can't do something as simple as kiss him._

The knock that sounded on the door pulled her from her picture time, she put the snap away, dried her eyes, knowing Jessica would be at hand with her trust hip flask. God she was a good friend!

Opening the door, she locked eyes with her Rainbow Haired Warrior, his hoodie open revealing the ancient Pearl jam T-shirt he'd stolen from her 3 years ago.

Jeff could see she had been crying and that just wouldn't do, he stepped into the room and shut the door and hugged her close. They didn't need to speak just yet, he felt he arms go around him and her face press into his shoulder. Man, she always smelled incredible and that scent always made him feel...at peace some how. He looked down at her and wiped away her tears.

''God I must look a mess.''

He shook his head- ''Nope, still beautiful.''

She looked away cringing, when he said the 'B' word, he couldn't tell her that even after 5 years-

''Shut up with that shit Jeff.''

He sat on the corner of the bed, shaking his head a smirk tilting his mouth.

Kimberly's heart nearly stopped in her chest when she saw what was down on the floor by the bed about tow feet from his foot- a condom wrapper! She walked closer to the bed and slid it subtly under the bed. She didn't fancy explaining that one to Jeff, well not soberly anyway!

''So what brings you to my door Jeffro?''

His green eyes looked at her as she knelt on the bed, her legs curled up beneath her-

''Heard you'd left early, a bit upset.''

She rolled her eyes- ''Hmm let me guess who told you that- Gail perhaps?''

''Yes, she said you were emotional.''

''Yeah, I'll just bet she did.'' she said through gritted teeth.

''I know you two don't get along, but lets just agree to disagree about Gail.'' he tried to reason.

''Oh, like you did with AJ? Fucking hypocrite.'' she said her face a blank mask, no way was she getting ''emotional.''

''Kimberly, he just wanted to get into your pants!''

''Well, with that low blow you delivered, I'd have been left hanging in the breeze would I? For Christ's sake they had to carry him out of the fucking ring after that!''

Jeff grinned mischievously- ''You've gotta admit that it was a perfectly executed move in wrestling terms.''

She refused to give into the charm behind that smile of his, or his attempt at being cute to win her over like he usually did-

''Fuck right off! Anyway I've got news and you need to be serious for a second.''

''This sounds interesting, ok my serious face is on, what's the news _Mrs Hardy?''_

Kim drew back her fist and punched him strongly in the shoulder- ''_Don't _call me that!''

''OW! Sorry, Jesus, sorry. Carry on.'' he rubbed his painful shoulder.

''Well, my mom knows about us, the Vegas thing.''

Jeff was oddly hurt- '_the Vegas thing' _ ok they hardly had a conventional wedding or marriage, but her words were so...dismissive! Forcing that aside he frowned-

''Is she pissed?''

''No and I've made her promise not to tell Serg, so you won't wind up with a broken nose.'' she saw him smile slightly- ''But, she's getting on to her lawyer.''

He looked down at his inked hands, they were trembling, he knew what was coming, he didn't dare look up at her-

''So...we're getting divorced then?''

God that word stuck in his throat!

''Jeff, it's the only thing we can do...we're hardly a happily married couple.'' she tried to joke.

He couldn't help but get mad at her- ''No, but we could be a hell of a lot worse off!''

''How exactly? You're fucking someone else and I'm- '' she cut herself off just in time.

He narrowed his eyes suspiciously-

''And you're _what?'' _he frowned, his temper starting to spike.

''_I'm _sick of you scaring off guys that I might be interested in! You've got no right to do that!'' she scowled.

He took massive offence at that claim-

''Actually I've got every right,I'm your _husband!''_

''You're NOT my husband at all, you're my _friend_, whom I got really fucking drunk with in Vegas! Plus if you want to play the _hubby_ card, I guess that makes you an _adulterer_ too. After all you've technically got a fucking mistress!''

Kimberly was oddly enjoying this fight, maybe Jessica was right, that she was a sick bitch!

Jeff was stunned once again, yet she was right, he was in the eyes of the law cheating scum when you looked at the big picture-

''Kim, lets calm this down a little ok? Why do you need a divorce? We're fine as we are.''

''No we're not! What if I meet a guy and want to get married? Do I say- _'Oops honey sorry the role of husband is filled by Jeff, but the slot of ''bit on the side'' is wide open, hop on in.' _Not fucking likely Nero!''

The thought if that happening and her getting married to someone else didn't sit well with him for some reason-

''That will _never _happen!''

''Fuck you Jeff! I'm _not_ as hot as your little Gail, I get that loud and clear, but some guys actually see beyond surface bullshit!''

She was trying not to break at his huge insult.

''Jesus, I didn't mean it like that Kimberly, you're fucking gorgeous, but don't expect me to sign any papers.''

''Why the hell not?'' she snapped.

''I'm sorry but I don't believe in divorce.''

''What? Since when?''

''Since always!'' he lied.

''Oh but adultery is ok? Oh great, well I believe in _equal opportunities, _so don't think for one second that you're scaring off any more guys I wanna date. If you're dating, so am I!''

Jeff got to his feet angrily- ''The hell you are!''

''The hell I'm not!'' she yelled back in his face, not backing down- ''Well, you'd better get out before the stampede of cock gets here! I'd hate for you to witness anything that offends you delicate sense of marital etiquette.''

She hustled him to the door, shoving him to speed him up. When he was out in the hall way, she dragged his hoodie off him and then yanked the Pearl Jam shirt from his hot body.

''What the hell Kim?'' he huffed.

''It's _my nightshirt _you fucking thief! You can just call it a _division of marital assets! SWEETHEART!''_ she slammed the door and realised that she'd officially snapped and gone loopy.

Behind him, he heard someone clear their throat, he turned and saw ODB, wearing camouflage shorts and a matching camisole, both made from satin, where the hell did this chick shop? He pulled his hoodie on his half naked body and flushed.

''Ooh marital spat?'' she teased.

''Something like that.'' Jeff huffed- ''She wants a _divorce.''_

He whispered the last word carefully.

''You get thrown out of her room barely clothed on a floor full of co-workers and now you're being discreet? Idiot!.'' she said leaning on the door jam- ''Of course she's not going to want to be stuck in a sham marriage. You don't love her that way.''

When Jeff failed to respond, Jessica's jaw dropped.

Jeff held up his hands- ''No! Don't go thinking that..just don't say it!''

She was too gob smacked at what she'd possibly just found out, she let the Enigma make his swift escape down the hall to his room.

The next night Kimberly and Jessica were getting into their new ring gear in their shared locker room, when Kim looked in the full length mirror-

''Oh my God, wardrobe is sick! We look like TNA does ...army porn!''

The play-suit only zipped up to below her boobs, the shorts were 3 inches below her ass- modest by Knockouts standards, but the sports bra beneath the army green outfit, made her chest look massive. She cringed, this was not her usual look at all!

Jessica's ODB outfit was a short zip up dress, with bright pink panties and matching sports bra and her signature camouflage head band.

They both had knee high black wrestling boots and little black fingerless gloves and pads.

The pair of them refused to let the hair and make up girls near them, they did their own, the overly made up look just wasn't then at all.

Kim braided her long dark hair into two slightly kinky braids as usual and then painted over her scar with black face paint, this time it was an intricate set of curling vines, that stopped at the top of her cheek.

They put their title belts over their shoulders and headed down for their tag match against Madison and the delightful Gail.

It was going to be fun for them, those two little preening bimbos had no chance against them. Ok Kim was only 118lbs but she was technically flawless in the ring, on both matt and high flying, she knocked the socks off them all. Jessica was a power house of a wrestler and they were scheduled to win. Whatever they did with their time in the ring was up to them basically, they just had to make it visually insane as usual.

They headed to the Impact Zone passing their two drinking buddies at the curtain- Mark LoMonaco aka Bully Ray and Devon Hughs, they exchanged high 5's and out the girls went to huge cheers. Christie Hemme announced them as their song blasted through the arena- 'Bad Reputation' by Joan Jett.

''_They are your reigning Knockouts Tag Team Champions- ODB and Kimberly Carter!''_

Holding up their title belts, they walked down slapping hands with the fans, they were loved! They posed on the tops of the turn buckles and Kimberly looked across the ring at Gail while still up on the turn buckle and flipped her off in plain sight of all the fans and cameras. Playing up to her on screen character, she was a funny, quirky, wild cat, who would happily go up against men if she had to!

Once the bell sounded ODB started off against Madison and beat the living hell out of her, not letting her tag in Gail just yet, she was having too much fun with the smaller woman.

Kim had to laugh, Madison was easily out wrestled by ODB. Madison ended up fleeing to her corner and tagging in Gail. Kim and Jessica exchanged a salute and she joined her partner in the ring and they double teamed Gail and unleashed a new move they'd been rehearsing all week in the hopes of unveiling it tonight.

ODB got a hold of Gail's skinny ankles, Kim hooked her under her arms, so the squealing Knockouts face was practically shoved into Kim's rack, the pair jumped up and slammed their opponent stomach first into the matt. ODB rolled out of the ring and Kim got the pin and the win.

The guys back stage were gob smacked, that move was really dirty! When Taz revealed the name of it, Jeff nearly choked on his cola flavoured gum. All the guys naturally loved it, it was called- '_The Titillation!'_

The girls got back behind the curtain, so glad to have put on a good match and to have scared Gail to tears in the ring, that alone was almost as sweet as the victory itself.

Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin wolf whistled the pair, much to Jeff's distaste. He then saw Kim wink at the tag team mates and say very flirtatiously-

''Damn right boys, but I doubt you two could handle us even if you had two dicks each.''

They walked off leaving half the roster speechless.

Jeff was oblivious to Gail's presence even as she pouted up at him, all he was focused on was Kimberly walking away. Clearly his best friend really was out to get a guy, that flirting made that abundantly clear. He had to stop this...hmm, maybe Daniel could help him? Better the devil you know and all that bullshit?

**AN: I hope that this was ok. **

**R&R please. xx.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: thank you all so so much for the reviews and the faves you guys are the best. I hope you like this chapter. Oh and the part with Alex and Chris at the karaoke bar on my crazy cousins when they were drunk last week and my regular readers will know exactly which cousins I mean- the Trio! Read and you'll know why I nearly fell off my seat laughing at them!**

**R&R**

**I only own my Ocs **

Friend?Lover?Stranger?

Chapter 3

Kimberly and Jessica were in their hotel bar with Mark-aka Bully Ray and Devon having a few drinks, when Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley joined them. They always had fun when that pair joined them, they were like two fun seeking kids at times.

''Ok guys and girls, I think we should check out that karaoke bar down the street.'' Alex grinned over the rim of his glass.

Mark did not look at all convinced by this suggestion, neither did Devon to be honest. Mark set his Bud down and cocked a brow-

''You expect me to _sing?''_

His New York twang only strengthened by his shock at the young wrestlers balls at _daring _to suggest such a thing.

Kimberly patted his huge shoulder calming him down- ''Mark, if I'm singing, you're picking up a microphone too, don't worry we'll find something super butch for you to belt out.''

He thought for a second then nodded, his semi permanent frown relaxing- ''Ok, but nothing..._fruity!''_

''Deal.'' Kim smiled- ''Lets karaoke!''

Jessica knocked back her rum and coke and nodded.

There was a reason none of the other Knockouts hit the town with Kim and Jess- none of them could keep up with the pair in a million years. They could out drink even the hardest guys on the roster and still be standing and in the gym the next day, bright and early not a sign of a hang over!

Jeff was just coming from a late gym session, he'd been trying in vain to figure out what the hell was going on with Kimberly and himself. He was dating Gail and it didn't feel right, they just didn't...fit. They had nothing in common, she annoyed the hell out of him when he was drawing , she didn't believe in quiet time it was just boring to her. He couldn't do any writing or drawing around her, his poetry was snickered at!

Kimberly never did shit like that, she'd smile and do her own thing, which was write short stories. He'd read them before and they were incredible, the way she built these worlds and characters you felt you could reach out and touch. She had journals full of them, and he knew that if she wasn't wrestling, she'd be a very famous writer. He'd told her from the day he'd found out about them, that she should submit some to a publisher, but she'd just blush and shake her head.

Kim also didn't know that he'd often sit and draw her as she wrote. Many times in fact, just sat there with her note book, hair piled up in a bun, spare pens spearing it like chop sticks, bare foot, pen tapping her lower lip as she put her thoughts into order before she committed them to the page.

He could probably draw her from memory alone and still be able to get every detail just right. Now he knew why...Jessica had read him like a book. The thought of Kim dating- Jesus it killed him inside, she wasn't supposed to find another guy! She was supposed to fall hopelessly in love with him after they got married!

Heading up to his room, he passed Kim's door and knew that he had to talk to her, he back tracked and knocked . Waiting, he was about to knock again, when Christopher Daniels opened the door next to Kimberly's and said-

''Hey Hardy, you just missed Kimberly, saw her heading out with Chris and Alex, Jess was with her too.''

''Thanks man.''

Jeff tried to keep his grateful look in place, all the way down to his room, when on the inside he was starting to fall apart.

Once he was inside his room, he slumped down on the bed, his head falling into his hands, she wasn't joking then- she really was scouting for potential boyfriends. His _wife_ was looking for his replacement!

This was so very wrong, all he'd wanted to do was to take care of her, he'd just done it in a fucked up way.

(Vegas 18 months ago)

_Jeff and Kimberly were in a bar close to their hotel, talking, drinking and actually flirting, ok this was nothing new to them, they'd always done that, but that night it was a lot more intense, it felt more substantial, there was something else behind it._

_''Jeff, what do you look for in a girl you date?''_

_He'd looked at her thoughtfully, her chin casually resting in her palm as she leaned on the table, those big innocent looking green eyes looking up at him. He couldn't help but stare at her and it had nothing to do with the tequila shots either._

_''Well, actually I'm quite picky when it comes to girls that I date...my nightmare is being in a relationship with a girl who doesn't understand me or my creative side...who doesn't got on with my friends..so my ideal girl would have to respect and accept my life style..not to try and change me...I'm not a bad person.''_

_Kim smiled-''I know you're not a bad person.'' she slid her fingers between his, holding his hand in her own._

_He raised her hand up to his lips and kissed it- ''See, you get it. I make mistakes, but I'm only human. This girl would have to know that too. She also shouldn't be obsessed with her looks...she can be ready to go in 10 minutes and still look great, a music lover, family orientated and money won't matter to me as long as it's not all she wants from me.''_

_She gave him an odd smile and said- ''She'll be a really lucky girl, really lucky.''_

_''What about you? What's your ideal guy like?''_

_He's seen her blush and remove her hand from his and sit back in her seat-_

_''yeah like any guy would see me for who I am! They just see me as nothing but a money source.''_

_Jeff knew what she meant, her grand parents were big money, they had some kind of energy company and it was worth hundreds of millions, she was a prime target for gold digging men._

_''How about I make you a deal?''_

_His deal was simple- she marries him and at least them she knew that he wasn't after her money, he had plenty of his own._

_In reality it was insanity, but after 15 tequila shots each, it sounded like a genius plan. So an hour later they were married in a chapel off the strip that Jeff had chosen because of the huge neon rainbow above it's door, he'd seen i good omen._

_Their wedding picture was of them in jeans, her legs around his waist, hands under her ass and he remembered looking at her and feeling so god damn happy right then._

_Outside the chapel holding their wedding certificates and pictures,he pulled her into his arms and just kissed her for the very first time._

_Their first kiss had been slow and intense, he'd waited so long to feel this and at first he'd been taken back at how willing she was and how much he didn't want to stop kissing this beautiful girl who was now his wife._

_It had continued in their ride up to their usual shared hotel room and into the room. Yes clothes had been shed very quickly, but he's seen how shy she was about being naked also. He hadn't wanted her to feel like he was rushing her or forcing her to do anything. Yet he felt like she was hiding her beautiful body under the covers, he didn't know why, she was perfect!_

_He was sobering up by this point and that was probably the only reason that he'd remembered to use protection at all. He'd slowly kissed every inch of her body, feeling her shake and tremble beneath him. While kissing her lips, he's whispered against them as he traced the scar with gentle fingers-_

_''I swear on my own life, that I'll never hurt you, you can tell me to stop at nay time and I will, I promise that to you.''_

_Kim stroked his purple and blue hair out of his eyes and nodded in agreement._

_Jeff had lavished his attention on her trembling body, making sure that she came before he even made love to her, because he knew that with a girl a stunning as her that he didn't have a hope in hell of lasting long._

_He'd guided himself closer and pushed fully into her tight perfect body, it'd felt like heaven for a second until she'd cried out in pain. Jeff hadn't understood what had gone wrong or why he'd hurt her, not until he'd looked into her tear filled eyes. Such scared innocence, he'd thought he'd known everything about her, but he'd never have guessed this. This incredible strong Knockout had been a virgin._

_It was almost unheard of to be almost 25 and be totally untouched, especially in their line of work._

_''W..why didn't you tell me baby?'' he'd whispered, not daring to move, as he softly stroked her burning cheek._

_She shook her head, tears escaping-_

_''Y..you wouldn't have wanted me.''_

_His heart had ached- ''Of course I would...I still do.''_

_''Really?''_

_Nodding- ''Just let me make it right.''_

_She'd agreed and he'd leaned down and kissed her and began making love to her, slowly. He'd never been any ones first time before, so he'd figured that he'd be as gentle as he possibly could. Jeff had wanted that night to be as perfect as every girl wanted for their first time, she deserved the best memories._

_He just hadn't counted on her not being there when he woke up the next morning. All of her things had been gone and from that morning on, she'd stopped rooming with him and started rooming with ODB, all he'd felt was stinging rejection._

(Present)

There was no way in hell Kimberly could share herself with another man, she respected her body too much. She'd technically saved herself for her wedding night. Yes, they'd made love several times the night they'd gotten married and a couple of those times it was hardly the stuff of a romance novel, but it was still their wedding night, so it showed she had morals!

She might say that it was just a meaningless piece of paper and not a real marriage, but in his heart that night was a precious gift. One that she hadn't given to her ex boyfriend when he'd briefly come to the company , nope Jay Reso- aka- Christian, hadn't slept with Kimberly!

Jeff knew also that she must have felt something for him that night beyond friendship, or she'd have _never _let him go all the way with her all those times. It's not like she could blame it all on the alcohol either, because a week later, they'd slept together again and they'd both been 100% sober that time and it's been every bit as amazing.

Sobriety, added to the fact that she'd initiated it too, just proved his point. They'd had rooms next door to each other and he'd called her to come in and talk to him, so they could maybe sort things out. She'd agreed. They'd started talking, then she'd kissed him. Kissing had turned to stripping, then they'd been naked and she'd been straddling him, making slow but intense love to him.

So, there was no convenient booze to blame that time!

Fuck, he was in love with her and she wanted rid of him, so she could go out and play the field with other guys? He knew he was every bit the hypocrite she'd pinned him as he was dating Gail, he was guilty as charged. Who was he kidding? Him and Gail weren't _dating_, they were having shallow meaningless sexy...and not very often either. Hell it wasn't even very good sex!

Fuck it, he was dumping her!

At the karaoke bar, they were all _very drunk _and they'd finally gotten Mark drunk enough to sing and they were in fits of laughter at his rendition of Rod Stewart's ''Hot Legs'' it was comedy gold! Every time he sang the words 'Hot legs' he'd point to his famous calves and Kim and Jess would give him a wolf whistle.

Chris and Alex, being the goof balls that they were had to go one step further, they did ''Goodbye Horses'' the song from 'Silence of the Lambs' that is playing when Buffalo Bill is putting on his make up, _naked!_

As they strutted around the stage singing, they ended up _topless, _raiding Kim's purse for lipstick! Chris found it and started applying it to Alex's lips as Alex said down the mic, in his best Buffalo Bill voice-

_'Do you wanna fuck me?'' _he pouted his lips and wined- ''_I'd fuck me.''_

Kim nearly choked on her drink she was laughing so hard. Mark and Devon were even laughing too-

''I swear if wither one of them drop their pants and stand naked like that dude in the movie, I'm outta here!'' Mark said knocking back his shot.

Jess nodded- ''We'd be right behind you, I really don't wanna see them with their junk out...or all tucked up!''

Kim had to agree that was just too disturbing, Chris and Alex were like family to her now.

The guys got to see the two bad ass Knockout Tag Team Champions do an awesome version of 'I Want Candy' the two girls were having so much fun, that they didn't even realise how good they sounded. Yet Chris and Alex couldn't help but notice how hot Kim looked when she shook her little ass, that girl was poetry in motion!

Later that night when the girls were back in their hotel room Jessica asked-

''So, you never told me what your mom gave you today. It made you need to get drunk, so it must have been pretty bad.''

''At first I thought that it was from the lawyers about the divorce or something, but no. It was from my dad, my _real _dad, not Serg.''

''Jesus, what does this one say?''

''The same as usual- huge company logo at the top of the page. Then the usual crap about putting the past behind us, that I have a half brother and sister to get to know. He seems to think that because he finally confessed to his wife and kids that it makes all the years of shit ok.''

''Kim what he did to you will _never be ok!''_

''I know.'' She sighed staring at the letter head- ''He treat my mom like a whore after he got what he wanted from her, he tried to get her to have an abortion...he never wanted me...but my mom never kept me from him, that was his choice at first...the one time he wanted to see me, I wanted to get to know him...he hits me because he thinks I have bad manners.''

Jess hugged her-''I know babe, but you were just a little girl, he could have killed you with hoe hard he hit you.''

Kim' fingers ghosted over the scar on her face and recalled how he'd slapped her so hard across the face, sending her little 7 year old self crashing into a table and splitting her face open-

''Thanks Jess, but here take a look at what else he dared to send me.''

She handed over the thick legal document.

Jessica read it- ''Holy fuck! This is a fucking bribe if ever ii saw one, I'm pretty sure your mom could have his ass in court for giving you this.''

Kimberly nodded- ''He is fucking shameless!''

She picked up the letter, with it's garish large black and red logo and scoffed, tearing it up, then did the same with the contract and dropped them both into the trash where they belonged, feeling an instant wave of relief-

''Fuck Vince McMahon! Fuck his contract off! And fuck the WWE!''

**AN: hope that it was ok? I wanted to fill in some of the blanks of Jeff and Kim's lives. A few new surprises huh? Lol.**

**R&R please. xx.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: thank you all for the wonderful reviews you guys made my day when ;) I hope you like the chapter, if you hated Gail before you're gonna want to hunt her down and shave her head after this chapter. lol**

**R&R **

**I only own my Ocs**

Friend?Lover?Stranger?

Chapter 4

Jeff was walking down the corridor of the arena, going over the many versions of his big ''break up'' plan in his head. But he knew that no matter how he put it, Gail was going to be a total bitch, nobody _dared _to dump the mighty Gail Kim! He knew she didn't really care about him. She'd just be pissed that he was doing the dumping instead of her.

Turning the corner he saw Daniel Solwold aka Austin Aries, apparently getting very cosy with Kimberly, sat on top of one of the many packing crates that littered the back stage area. Jeff didn't like it, the guy might be _friends_ with her too, but the X Division Champ looked at her like she was a freaking steak and he was more than slightly hungry! The pricks lust was so blatant it was turning his stomach!

Jeff's hopes of them joining forces to keep the other possible suitors away from Kim, clearly wasn't happening, he'd simply identified another threat. As he passed the pair, she shot him a lovely smile, one that he couldn't help but return, it was reflex.

''Hi Jeffro.'' she smiled hoping they could be civilized.

''Well hi there Miss Carter.'' he smiled, loving that he could still make her smile when he turned on the Southern charm.

She felt her face warm up, that voice, the accent, the smile- it could still reduce her to a pile of mush, he could literally turn women's panties into a combustible item!

''Got a question for you Jeffro.''

''And what would that be?''

''When we get to Dallas, are you staying with me still?''

Jeff felt his heart soar- ''You'd still want me to?''

''We always do that when I get home. Plus my brother is dying to catch up with you.''

''How's Nate doing?''

''Great, studying hard, like he should be.''she smiled- ''Taking care of my house- hopefully.''

He laughed-''I hope so too, I love that place. It's a plan, tell him to get my room ready for me.'' he tapped the end of her cute nose with his inked index finger, winked then headed off.

Daniel watched the entire interaction it was...bizarre, so intimate. Yes, there'd been talk for years about the pair, hell he'd seen most of it with his own two eyes, but what he'd just witnessed just then, was something else entirely. It twisted him up inside, the way she looked at Hardy..the adoration and care was something she'd never shown him, not even when they slept together.

She was always safe behind that big wall she'd put up, the one that he just couldn't scale and yet there in 20 second chat with Hardy, she was there and unguarded.

''He stays at your home?'' Dan frowned.

''Yep, whether we're mid-fight or the best of friends, it's just how we are, it's like a tradition. Just like whenever I'm in North Carolina, I stay with him at his place in Cameron. My half brother lives with me in Dallas, so he likes it when Jeff visits too.''

''So, they're really friends then?''

''Oh yeah Nathan's an art student so they have so much to talk about.'' she smiled, liking that when she went home she had her family there and Jeff too- ''Nate looks after my dog Willow too.''

''You've got a dog?''

''Yes, Jeff got me a puppy and the egotist named her Willow after his old 'Willow The Whisp' ring name. She's gorgeous, a grey and white Nikita, with these white-blue eyes.''

They were pulled out of their chat by yelling down the hall, when the locker room door got wrenched open, the distinctive wails of an irate Gail Kim could be heard-

''You! You're _braking up_ with me! Fuck you Hardy, you're nothing around here, just a dirty fucking stain on the roster sheet. Honey you're a 'Spot Monkey' with no real matt skills. You've made a fucking career out of four out dated moves! You're whole ''career'' is a bad joke without eh punch line, you're just a painted up cheap gimmick. You think you're so fucking superior with your ''creativity'', when honey in truth your little _freak fans_ are humouring you. You can't paint for shit, your poetry is surpassed by scrawl on men's room walls and your music- laughable!''

She finally drew a breath and carried on with her bitter, hurtful rant-

''You're a joke around here, a filthy junky treading water until his _next fall from the wagon!_ One day your little scar faced bitch is going to stumble across you OD'd somewhere and she'll be the only one to cry, because you're a waste of a life and a waste of good air time. Your whole family should feel nothing but shame when they look at you. I'd say go run to your mommy, but you can't even do that can you. Go on fucking cry! Loser!''

Kimberly had heard more than enough, she pushed Dan away from her, Gail's tirade was going to end now! She got there in time to see the bitch slap him right across the face. That was it, Kim saw red, grabbed a enough hand full of her long black hair and pulled her from the locker room.

(Kimberly)

_No way was this slut bag whore EVER talking to my best friend and ''husband'' like that! Fucking hell no. when I grabbed her, I could have killed her with my bare hands, she was shrieking so loud I swear that I could hear fucking dogs howling in protest. To shut the skank up I shoved a wad of her own long hair into her mouth and held her damn jaw shut as my arm went over her throat, pinning her to the wall. The bitch at least has the decency to look shit scared of me._

''You listen to me you little cunt, you_ never_ speak to my friend like that, you might have been warming his bed, but you know fuck all about him! You fuck with me or him again and you'll be working dark matches until you tits are in your shoes and your botox loaded face can barely summon up enough nerve activity to blink. That's if I even let you walk out of the ring tonight. You know for a fact that I could fuck you up to the point where you could never work again. Do you hear me maple leaf?''

Gail nodded, tears in her dark eyes.

Kimberly gave a creepy smile and patted her on the top of her head in the most patronising was possible-

''Good girl, now go make yourself look pretty.''

Everyone watching was impressed, including the GM Hulk Hogan, who had just gotten an idea for a storyline, he headed along to Dixie Carter's office to throw some ideas around.

Kim went inside Jeff's private locker room and saw him just sat there at the mirror, staring at himself. She walked up behind him, placing her hands on his muscular shoulders, he had a big red hand print right across his left cheek.

Jeff looked up at her in the mirror-

''I can't believe you called her a cunt, dirty mouthed young lady.''

She saw a flicker of a smile on his lips- ''You bet your ass I did, she _so is one too!_ I still can't believe you stayed with her for 6 months, kinda creeps me out.''

He frowned, wondering if it was jealousy he saw in her big green eyes- ''Why does it matter?''

''Because every guy at the company has been there before you, it's like picking someone elses chewed gum out of a dirty ash tray and chewing yourself.''

Jeff couldn't help but laugh at her explanation, he pulled her hands from his shoulders and drew them down his chest, linking their hands, so she was leaning down hugging him from behind-

''Well, I hate to break it to you Kim, but we can't all have shiny and new...well, not for long anyway.''

He hoped that she understood what he was saying to her, because he didn't know how else to say it, he wasn't the most articulate of guys at times.

She blushed at the words, and looked at him in the mirror and felt guilty because she wasn't shiny and new any more. She'd been tarnished by what she'd been doing with Daniel for the past 6 months-

''Jeff, you're a good guy, you'll get what you deserve and I mean that in a strictly none slasher movie way.'' she smirked.

He chuckled, turning his head and softly kissing her cheek- ''Never change.''

''Why would I? I'm practically perfect.'' she joked.

''Modest aren't you.''

''Oh you big hypocrite, coming from the man who is the _self proclaimed _'Charismatic Enigma' I take that as a compliment.''

Kim sat on the edge of the dressing table and looked at him, his handsome face marred by the hand print, she smirked and handed him a cold can from the mini fridge to put on his cheek.

''Thanks baby.'' he said, holding it in place, hissing at the contact.

She felt that '_baby'_ course through her like a shot of alcohol on an empty stomach. He hadn't called her that with so much affection in a long time, not since last year before 'Victory Road.'

NO! she would not think about that night or all the shit she'd had to do for him to keep him from getting fired. Jeff still had no clue what she'd done for him and if she had her way he _never _would!

Looking at him Kim said-

''Don't you dare believe what Gail said to you, you're an incredible wrestler and there's no way in the world you'd have been around _this long_ if any of that shit was true.''

Jeff stood up, setting the cold can aside, he stopped right in front of her, very close but not quite touching, he saw her nervousness instantly. Laying his inked hands on her small shoulders, he let his guard down and said-

''What do _you _think?''

She saw his vulnerability, Gail's words had really hurt him, she just wanted to wipe out the effects completely. She placed her hands on his solid muscular chest and said honestly-

''I think you're still the best high flyer I've ever seen, you know how sell the hits you take- perfectly and there's more to you in the ring that your top rope moves. Outside the ring you know how good you are. I've told you hundreds of times how much I love your art, hell Hardy I own two pieces. Your poetry is beautiful and your my karaoke partner for life!''

He laughed- ''I can't believe you dared to go to a karaoke bar with Shelley and Sabin, without me.''

''I swear it wasn't the same! You missed out on Chris and Alex doing 'Goodbye Horses' complete with lipstick application and an impromptu striptease.''

''Whoa now that's disturbing.''

Kim nodded.

They just looked at each other, the tension building very quickly, neither of them moving or looking away. She felt paralysed, those green eyes of his wouldn't let her go, she wanted him to close the distance between them and take the kiss she so desperately wanted him give him.

He wondered if he was reading her signals correctly, she always hard to read when it came to stuff like this. She kept looking at his mouth, then his eyes, did she want him to kiss her?

He figured that they were already going to be getting a divorce, so how much worse could it get?

Kimberly saw him closing the gap between them and his warm hands slid up her upper arms to her neck and when his soft familiar lips met hers, it was almost chaste at first, so sweet and so tender. Until she let her tongue caress his lower lip, hoping he'd take the step and let her deepen the kiss.

He opened his lips and sucked her tongue into his mouth and he slowly lost himself to the kiss, not missing the delicious, sexy moan that escaped her throat, he'd missed kissing her, it's been so long, how could he ever let her go now?

She wrapped her legs around his hips as she sat on the dressing table, anchoring him to her, afraid that he'd slip away from her in some way. Getting lost in his taste- cola Hubba Bubba bubble gum and cigarettes, an odd mixture, but it was _Jeff!_ That made it as addictive as any drug.

Loving him for so long, made every rare kiss feel even more core shaking than the last one. She felt him pull back and she couldn't bare to look up at him, fearing his rejection, she dropped her legs from around him, feeling her face begin to burn under his close scrutiny.

Out of reflex she made sure that her scar was covered, but his warm hand caught her own, she didn't have to meet his eyes or even look up to know that he was shaking his head.

''You don't have to do that, don't try to hide anything from me.''

She cringed as he moved her long bangs aside, knowing that he was looking at the flaw, she squeezed her eyes shut, hating every second of it, until he did something so unexpected.

Jeff hated how she hid, not even knowing how naturally stunning she honestly was. He lowered his lips to the scar and just lay the softest kissed along it. From the corner of her eye to her hair line. He counted it, it was three kisses long, he smiled against her skin-

''Five years I've waited to do that.''

She stopped cringing and took in his words, he'd _wanted _to kiss her scar? She looked up at him and a smirk played across her mouth-

''Fucking freak.''

A huge smile broke out across his painfully handsome face and he nodded- ''Can I paint you up tonight?'' his finger traced her scar.

A thrill of pleasure shot through her body as he did that and she nodded, getting down from her perch on the dressing table and headed towards the door-

''Give half an hour to get ready and drop by ok?''

''Ok, see you then.'' he smiled, those dimples popping out.

Jessica saw Kim return and knew her well enough to know that her friend was one happy girl-

''So did you _console _Hardy?''

Kimberly just grinned- ''Something like that.''

''Tell me all the dirty details right now!''

''Oh fucking Jesus, I didn't bang him, but we did _kiss.''_

Jess let out a big gasp- ''Oh my Fuck!''

''Why the hell is _that_ more shocking than sex in a locker room?''

''Hmm I don't know maybe because you with hold your kissed from Daniel, like a total bastard would with Oreos around a fat chick! You've got Dan panting like a dog, but you kiss Jeffro? Babe you're blurring the lines, God I wish you two would stop being so damn proud.''

Kimberly didn't have time for one of Jessica's pep talks, she had a singles match to get ready for, against a total bitch who needed a real beat down, to learn her place.

She put on her most famous/sexy ring gear, it didn't flash acres of flesh, but it didn't need to. It was a pair of shiny black latex pants and a long sleeved high neck crop top also made from latex. She laced up her wrestling boots with the buckles up the side and got straightening her long waves out. Then came her make up.

Jessica let Jeff in, he was in his ring gear, face all painted up,half was a black and white checker board pattern and the other side was black and green, matching his tight long sleeved wrestling top.

When he saw Kim bent over the dressing table unplugging her straighteners, he felt his pants suddenly get uncomfortably tight. She was wearing the _LATEX! every guy on the fucking roster was going to be ogling her now!_ They'd all been waiting for the day she'd wear this again! Why tonight?

Kim heard Jessica's deep chuckle behind her-

''Subtle Hardy, please wait for me to exit before you mount her over the face paints please.''

Once Jess had left them to it, the now very uncomfortable pair were stood facing each other.

(Kimberly)

_Fuck me, this was uncomfortable! Cheers Jessica, throw the grenade in and run for cover, leaving us to face the blast! We sat facing each other, usually he used the face paint pens on me, but not tonight, he was holding a fine brush. _

_No words were spoken, I closed my eyes and he began. When I felt him move away from the corner of my eye I opened my eyes and didn't miss his less than steady hands. Not to be a bitch, but I did get a certain satisfaction from knowing I could have this kind of effect on such a beautiful man. _

_Yet, I was under no illusions about our kiss, I'd been disappointed too many times by him, I wasn't risking heart and mind over one kiss._

''There all done.'' he said softly.

She turned and looked in the mirror and was stunned, it was so different, but still beautiful. It was little ivy vines, curling and intertwined, the tint little leaves all filled in with green paint, she smiled-

''Best yet Nero, thank you.''

''No problem baby.''

He was about to kiss her when she shook her head, his stomach dropped, so the wall of ice was back up-

''I'm..I'm sorry.''

She smiled- ''I' not saying 'no' because I don't want to kiss you again, I'm saying 'no' because I don't want to get covered in your face paint. I know we've got a few real dumb asses here, but even they'd notice if I had a perfect transfer of your paint on my face.''

''So later then?'' he inquired hopefully.

She shrugged playing coy- ''Maybe.''

Jessica knocked on the closed door-

''Come in.''

In Jess went and saw Dixie smiling at her from behind the desk-

''Hey there Jessica, how you doing sweetheart?''

''I'm great, but boy do we need to talk about Kimberly and Jeff Hardy. You've gotta help me here.''

Dixie smiled- ''Funny you should say that, someone else thinks so too.''

Jessica saw where her friends mom was pointing and there sat their GM Hulk Hogan, smiling.

Kimberly went through the curtain, title belt around her waist and her regular music blasted through the packed arena- ''Lost Weekend'' by 'The Qemists.' the pyros went up and she just fed off the fans reactions, slapping hands with the fans, she ran down the ramp and jumped up on to the apron and posed before flipping over the top rope faultlessly. Shooting Gail the double bird across the ring the fans cheering.

Holding up her Tag team belt she did a lap of the ring and said to Gail, careful of where the cameras and microphones were-

''Jeff's a good kisser isn't he?''

Gail looked pissed and the ref had to hold back as he took Kim's belt.

The bell rang and it was all out war between the two Knockouts, Kim was smiling through every move. They locked up in the corner and Kim whispered-

''Did he growl when you ran your nails up his thigh's as you blew him? He _loved_ it when I did that to him.''

Gail got so mad that she came at Kim like a woman possessed, she avoided the clothesline by dropping into the Matrix drop back, she spun and sent Gail crashing face first into the turn buckle by delivering a drop kick to her ass, making everyone laugh and jeer at the Canadian.

Grabbing her under the chin and said in her ear-

''You didn't _really_ think you got him first did you? Stupid bitch, he was never yours.''

Kim then picked her up with very little effort and threw her over the top rope on to the mats at the bottom of the ramp, then backed up and took off running.

Nobody _ever_ knew what she was going to do, so they waited with baited breath.

She ran, leapt up, used the top rope to bounce off of, turned in mid air and landed one of the most incredible Big Elbows the company had ever seen, right into the bitches stomach.

Everyone at the monitor bay was giving Jeff funny looks, knowing that his break up with Gail was behind this. After Kim won, Gail demanded a microphone. This was going against the script, everyone knew that shit was going down!

''Don't cheer this bitch! She's nothing but a cheat!'' Gail screeched.

Kimberly stood at the bottom of the ramp, her Tag title over her shoulder, waiting for the ''outing'' to land.

''She's basically just admitted to sleeping with my boyfriend _Jeff Hardy!''_

The crowd didn't like the idea of the harpy dating their Charismatic Enigma and she got a roar of Boos.

Kim was handed a microphone by one of the techs too-

''Oh little miss maple leaf, aren't you leaving out a rather important detail? The fact that he _dumped your skinny ass!''_

The Canadian was furious, the ref had to fight to keep her in the ring-

''Dumped me? Not likely! Like I'd stay with a loser like Hardy! When the last time that washed up hick held on to a _real title?''_

Suddenly Jeff's theme blasted through the arena, as Dixie, Hulk Hogan and ODB shoved him through the curtain and out on to the ramp all wearing smirks like they were all up to something. Hell Dixie had threatened him with Knockout valet duty if he didn't get out there and defend their girl.

So, out he went ans he heard the audience cheer really loudly for him, he got to the bottom of the ramp and tried not to ogle Kimberly too much as he stood beside her-

''Ahem! Gail, I _never _cheated on you, but let me tell you something- you're such a demanding, high maintenance _chore _of a woman that I wouldn't blame any man for seeking comfort else where when it comes to you!''

Cheers went up.

Kim snickered and he heard the Canadian shriek- ''Tell the truth! You two are together!''

He shrugged- ''Kimberly and I have no obligation to you. But let me tell you something, after I _dumped _you, I opened my eyes and realised who was important to me and Kim was right at the top of my list.''

Kimberly didn't know what to do with that compliment, not that Jeff gave her much time to process it, because the next thing she knew, his painted face was coming for her and he was kissing her breathless in front of a full house and all the viewers at home!

Jeff was just winging it, by the cheering nearly raised the roof, in a rush of adrenaline he swept Kim off her feet and into a fireman's lift, spanked her latex covered ass and carried her off up the ramp, ready to face whatever heat was waiting for him behind that curtain.

**AN: I hope that was ok.**

**R&R please. xx. **


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Thank you all so so much for all the reviews and alerts, they mean so much to me. Sorry for the later than usual update, but life gets crazy at times, but here it is ;)**

**I only own my Ocs.**

**R&R please. xx.**

Friend?Lover?Stranger?

Chapter 5

Dan hadn't moved from his position at the monitor bay since Gail Kim's rant had began, he wished he could make his feet move, because any cold dark corner of the arena would be a preferable location over this one! How could he be witness to this? Dixie, Hogan and ODB seemed intent upon ruining his life.

Not only had Jeff Hardy- of all people- kissed Kimberly in front of all of the fans in the Impact Zone, but they'd cheered too! He'd held his belt to his chest, head laid back on the wall, jaw set and he knew from that one kiss with Jeff that Kim might have more than ''just friends'' feelings for the Enigma. That kiss was so real!

So, there he sat _waiting_ for the pair to come through that curtain and basically put a metaphorical bullet through his chest, around the general vicinity of his heart. No wonder she hadn't let him kiss her, she clearly was saving those for special kisses for someone else!

How could her mom be smiling about this? Jeff was a lovely guy personally, but professionally? The guy was a total car wreck. It was never said out loud, but the whole locker room knew that the TNA bosses were still punishing Jeff for fucking up so badly and so publicly at 'Victory Road.'

Yes, they scheduled him to win every now and then, but it'd be a _very long time_ before that guy would hold a belt again. The company just didn't trust him to stay clean and they couldn't be seen giving a drug addict air time to represent the company, it was bad for business.

Jeff entered the bay and set Kimberly down on her feet, she was blushing like crazy. He looked over and met her mom's eyes-

''Sorry Dixie if I went too far-''

Dixie held up her hands silencing him-

''Actually Jeff you did really great.''

He frowned, that was unexpected-

''So, I'm not going to get suspended?''

Hogan laughed- ''And delay this new angle? Not a chance brother, you two need to get to creative in the morning to talk story lines. We've got a new on-screen romance breaking out.''

Kimberly felt eyes boring into her, as Jeff hugged her. Looking over his shoulder she locked eyes with Daniel and suddenly she felt like the biggest slut in the world. There she'd been, reading the riot act to Gail, when she was busy using a guy for his body. Was she really all that different from Gail?

Jessica could see that Kim was deep in her own head, not having a clue what was going on around her. Jess followed the path of her green eyes and saw that they were on Daniel, who looked really pissed. Knowing this would explode if it was left too long, she knew she had to defuse it-

''Ok Jeff, why don't you wait for your match and I will take Kim to get changed.''

Jessica signalled Dixie with her eyes.

Dixie got the message and saw Jessica's eyes flick in the direction of the X Division Champion, Dixie was a woman of the world, she knew when a guy was practically shaking with rage and jealousy-

''Great idea, off you go honey.''

Kim hugged her mom and gave Jeff a little smile- ''Catch you later, good luck out there.''

Jeff had no idea what the hell had just happened, but all three women knew, maybe they'd let him in on the secret, so he didn't have to be stood there hoping Hulk Hogan would cough up some answers. The big guy just shrugged-

''Don't ask me brother, I was married 20 years and I still never figured that woman out. They can have whole conversations with eye contact alone. Hell I knew when I was in the shit with Linda from _one look_, but I'd never have a clue what I'd done but I always knew when she was pissed. You got a lot to learn brother, we all still do.''

Jeff nodded, chewing a fresh piece of cola gum and hoping that he wasn't in trouble with Kimberly. His list of troubles only got added to when Austin Aries nearly knocked him on his ass as he stormed past him to go for his match.

''What the hell?''

''Stay out of my way Hardy!'' Dan pointed right in Jeff's painted up face.

''Gladly asshole! Get your god damn finger out of my face, that's just _rude!''_ Jeff said moving back from the offending digit.

Daniel sneered and flounced off, his cape still managing to hit Jeff in the face. This only caused Hulk to laugh and say-

''Well Hardy I understand this one, but you've still got a lot to learn.''

In their dressing room Kimberly was pacing-

''Dan fucking hates me now, I never wanted to hurt him, not in a million years.''

''See! You never listened to me when I told you that he really likes you.''

''Sorry, but I thought Dan was just my _friend.''_

Jessica laughed- ''No, _we're_ just friends, you two didn't just blur the friendship lines, you laid down and had nasty dirty sex on them! Friendship went sailing out of the window the second you let him put his dick in you!''

Kim cringed- ''Oh fuck, don't say it like _that_, you make it sound so...sordid.''

''Sorry but you two had a casual sex arrangement, not a romance. Shame Daniel forgot the rules huh?''

Kimberly felt like scum- ''Jess, was it naïve to expect nobody to get hurt in this fucked up triangle of a situation?''

''Yes! You're married and love your husband yet he doesn't know how you feel, said-husband is wicked jealous of any guy who looks at you. This was never going to be 'Pride and Prejudice' babe.''

''Hey Mr Darcy was a pompous dick to Elizabeth, he thought that she was beneath him and his inferior, so...where were we?'' she frowned losing track.

''One fucked up marriage and no chance of a good ending with your hurt fuck buddy.'' Jess said nodding- ''I think that that covers all the high points.''

''Jesus, Dan looked at me like he just wanted to spit in my face, I never wanted to hurt him. Part of me wishes I could fall in love with him, he's pretty much the perfect fucking guy...fuck, why couldn't I love him?''

''Because you love Jeff and I guess that means this thing with Dan is done with now. I'd say it's over.''

Kim nodded sadly- ''Guess it has to be. What the hell do I do about Jeff? I've got this gut feeling that this story line idea is going to get really messy.''

Jess nodded- ''I guess you two will just have to jump off that bridge when you come to it.''

Kimberly managed to smile, but in the back of her mind something told her that the clock was now ticking on her secret marriage staying a secret. Someone was going to find out, secrets as big as theirs always got out. In her mind this one was a nuclear reactor about to go into meltdown...or maybe _she_ was the one about to have the meltdown?

She shook her head, now she was just confusing herself with her own metaphors!

Jeff won his match and knew that he'd put on a good show for the fans, but as usual his lower back was killing him. He stood under the shower, the hot spray hitting directly on all of the aches and pains of his lower back. He couldn't wait to get to Dallas and stay with Kimberly, catch up with Nathan, sleep in a comfortable bed, in _his room_ at her place. It was a little piece of heaven.

He got dried and dressed, tying his damp hair up in a bun and got his stuff all packed up. On the way to Kim's locker room he got the stink eye off Daniel-

''What's your problem all of a sudden?'' Jeff asked having no patience for any of this high school bullshit.

Dan just sneered- ''Why don't you ask Kimberly, I'm sure she'll give you all the answers you need Hardy.''

Confused he carried on on his way, the words replaying in his head.

Jess let Jeff in and he smiled at Kim-

''Hey, be a doll and let me know why Daniel is being a complete dick to me, he said to ask you why and that you'd give me all the answers I'd need.''

Kim saw Jess throw her bag over her shoulder- ''Ok, that's my cue to leave, see you tow kids in Dallas.'' she then mouthed- '_Good luck'_ and bailed.

Kim sat down on the couch, her bag at her feet and knew in her heart that lying would only make issues later on down the line-

''Ok, I'm just going to be honest with you, because I can't deal with any more bullshit, it's getting too fucking complicated. I've got Gail calling me out on live TV, my dad trying to bribe me with a WWE contract and now _this.''_ she indicated the the both of them and sighed- ''Here goes...Daniel and I...we've had this arrangement...for about 6 months.''

Jeff gulped so hard he swallowed his cola gum and didn't really notice, he looked at his sweet sexy Kimberly and he felt his heart break a little-

''Tell me...tell me I'm wrong,_ please_ tell me that you weren't sleeping with him. _Please_ anything but that.''

She saw the way that he was pulling his sleeves over his hands, it was a dead give away when he was agitated and trying not to let his emotions get the better of him. Part of her wanted to give him the lie and take away his distress, but that'd be wrong-

''I...I was sleeping with him.''

Her voice was barely above a whisper, but Jeff heard it still, loud and clear.

''How could you do that?'' he asked, not even looking at her, shock abundantly clear in his voice.

Kim heard his tone- ''You're _judging _me? How dare you, when you look at who _you_ were fucking!''

''No, I mean literally- _how?_ You were so shy and innocent, you'd blush when I saw you naked, even when we'd done it a few times.''

Her face was already glowing pink and he saw it plain as day- ''See, you're blushing right now and we're just talking about it. You waited until you were 24, almost 25 to have your first time. _How_ can you jump into bed with Daniel so easily?''

''If you have to ask that then you really are stupid.'' she said letting out a humourless laugh.

''Fine, I'm as dumb as a bag of rocks, now _tell me why.''_ he begged.

''Fine, I figured that if you could screw around with Gail, then I could do the same with him.'' she said starring down at her feet.

Jeff exhaled- ''But that's not _who_ you are. _You're _not supposed to have casual sex, because sex with you isn't casual at all.''

Kimberly frowned, hurt by his words- ''Why the fuck isn't it? What's so wrong with me?''

She had to hear why he was condemning her.

''There's _nothing_ wrong with you at all, you're perfect, but I stand by what I said. The reason that it's not casual with you is because Daniel is clearly in love with you...do...do you love him?''

''No, I'm not in love with him.''

''Are you sure?''

The suspicious look on Jeff's handsome face made her so mad that she punched him full force in the shoulder-

''Don't you fucking dare doubt me Hardy! I'm not lying to you. If I'd loved him I probably wouldn't have refused to kiss him n the mouth.''

That rendered him momentarily mute, until he got his mouth back in sync with his brain-

''What? You never kissed him? In 6 months?''

''He tried but it'd have felt wrong, kissing means emotions and they had no place in what we did, so I refused each time. Don't look so fucking shocked I do have some self control you know!''

''But...you let me kiss you?'' he frowned.

She felt her cheeks get warm again, she'd dropped herself in it now! She'd just inadvertently admitted to having feelings for him, Jesus!

(Kimberly)

_I could feel those green eyes of him reading me like a book. It'd have been awesome to be a woman of deep mystery, who was unreadable, but I'm just not. This girl wasn't just an open book to this guy, no I was in large bold print with pictures thrown in for god measure._

_Fuck, he was starting to smile, that was when I had to look away. The only thing getting me through this dark comedy of a marriage was my ability to compartmentalise my heart in front of him. _

_Well, wasn't that all shot to shit!_

Jeff stood up, smiling down at her- ''So, you like me huh?''

Cringing she looked away- ''Wipe that smug look of your face right now Nero!''

''Hell no, do you know how long I've waited to find this out? Too damn long, I'm smug and proud baby girl.''

Kim still hadn't heard anything about hid feelings apart from the smug ones, so she picked up her bag and marched herself right out of that room, he was going to be insufferable now!

''Hey wait up.'' he called, jogging to catch up with her as she headed to the exit- ''So, do I get to room with _my wife?''_ he whispered close to her ear.

She shivered, feeling his breath on her ear and her neck, damn this mans sexy accent and voice! Yet she wasn't going to cave _that _easily-

''Jeff you'll be lucky if I let you have the couch.''

''Well Daniels not getting within groping distance of you, your ass is mine.'' he gave her a sexy wink and then slapped her hard on the ass.

''Stop doing that! I already have a bruise from the first one in the arena, that hurts!'' she said swatting his hands away from her butt.

''Sorry baby, I'll have to get the other cheek next time.'' he grinned, getting the door for her- ''After you _Mrs Hardy.''_

Once again he whispered it in her ear, knowing now that she seemed to blush more when he did that, damn she looked so hot when she blushed.

The next day when they got to Dallas, Kim and Jeff didn't get a chance to drive to her home, they had to get to the meeting with creative out of the way. It went just as Jeff had hoped- he was getting a fully fledged romance story line. But Kim had also learned that Jessica and herself would be losing their belts to Gail and Madison!

Kim was too tired to be pissed, but after some sleep she knew that the pissed of would catch up with her. She's been driving with Jeff since 4am and all of his sexual innuendos and suggestive song choices from his ipod , had made the journey a long one! So once the meeting let out, she was dead on her feet.

He drove them to her place, he saw her drift off to sleep in the passenger seat and she looked so beautiful, so innocent and sweet too. Her home was gorgeous, situated on the outskirts of the city, just before you hit the farm lands, it was red brick, 4 bedrooms, with a huge garden. His contribution to her garden was the white wooden swing with the white ropes that hung from the apple blossom tree. At night when they stayed there and they couldn't sleep, they always went down to the garden and he'd push her on the swing.

That tradition had grown, they sat on it together, and he's swing them to and fro until she fell asleep in his arms.

Nathan saw the rental pull up, he made sure Willow stayed on the porch when Jeff exited the car yawning, but still waving.

''Hey Jeff, where's our Kim?''

''Sleeping.''

''Well pop the trunk, you get the scary sister, I'll get the bags.''

''Oh tanks.'' Jeff joked.

''Tough shit Hardy, she bites when she's pissed of and sleepy.'' Nathan grinned- ''Oh and the grand parents have issued the dinner requests for tomorrow night.''

Jeff froze by the passenger door, eyes sliding to the teenager, who was smirking at him-

''No,no,no, I'm not going back there. Your gran hates me, she always hits me with newspapers and no way was that coffee thing an accident.''

''Well, gran is a crafty old gal.''

''_Crafty?_ That mug was booby trapped! The handle broke and scolded my junk!''

''Well you'd better wear something fireproof tomorrow then.''

Jeff gulped- ''Oh fuck, it's the Carter barbecue isn't it?''

''Yep and gran is always in charge of the grill. So the best of luck to you Jeffrey.''

He reached into the car for Kimberly, she let him release her seat belt and actually snuggled into him when he picked her up. She said sleepily-

''Mmm, I like how you smell.''

Nathan chuckled and said nothing.

Jeff waited for the young guy to turn his back before he laid a kiss on her temple and whispered-

''Well I _love_ how you smell too.''

All he could think about was her gran torching him at the barbecue. Jesus, if she ever found out they were married, she'd throw him on the grill and stick him with worse things that a fork. Maralyn Carter was out to get him already, he'd be a dead man now!

He's skip it if he could, but she;d drive over, hog tie his and drag his cowardly ass there and it'd be ten times as bad. It was a good thing that Kim's grandpa was nice to him, Reuben was laid back, kind and they always smoked cigars together. You'd never guess that the guy was super rich, he was just a nice old guy.

But Maralyn carter- she was the scariest woman he'd ever met, bar none! He'd long ago accepted the possibility that the woman _could_ one day kill him, but surely death at a barbecue wasn't how it was meant to go down? Right?

**AN: hope that it was ok and Maralyn Carter is based on my own gran (my dad's mother) and is 100% the scariest lady in my family. Then again she scares Steven Kian and Alex into behaving so she's not all bad. Lol.**

**R&R please. xx.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: thank you to everyone who has reviewed and added me to their alerts, much appreciated. As I may have mentioned, grandma Carter is kinda based on my own gran who is a total battle axe, and once rendered a burglar unconscious with a rolling pin- not joking- she was on the local news! so don't expect a genteel old lady. Lol.**

**I only own my Ocs.**

**R&R**

Friend?Lover?Stranger?

Chapter 6

Jeff and Nathan were in the kitchen cooking dinner, they let Kimberly sleep a while longer. Mainly because Jeff didn't want to wake her, the sight of her sleeping in that huge bed would be his undoing and no younger brother ever wanted to hear their sister getting it on.

Nathan and Kim had an on going joke that their house was the house that sex forgot, because neither of them had ever done the deed under the roof. They liked to keep their private lives private and they didn't want the other to ever be uncomfortable in their own home.

Willow looked up at Jeff, her pale blue eyes begging for his attention, being a soft touch for all animals, he had to make some fuss of her which she loved-

''I missed you too girl.''

Willow nudged him- ''Oh you want me to go and wake Kimberly, ok but if she's cranky, it's all on you Will.''

Nathan smirked as Jeff had his usual conversation with the dog.

Kimberly woke up feeling a soft tickling on her neck, she wondered if Willow had snook in, but no. when she opened her eyes she found Jeff was laid beside her on the huge bed, not kissing her neck, he was _licking her neck!_

God it felt amazing, she soft moan just couldn't be held back. Then his teeth tugged gently on her ear lobe, his stubble scratching the sensitive skin, just the way she liked it.

Turning her head she captured his lips and felt his surprise, if he wanted to play the seduction game, she was willing to jump in too, he couldn't just call her bluff.

Jeff hadn't been expecting her to lay the searing hot kiss on him nor had he expected to be pushed over on to his back as she straddled him. Her cheeks may have been blushing, but that devilish smirk was anything but shy. His hands caressed her hips and down over her denim clad ass, giving it a playful squeeze.

She hissed in pain, reminding him that she was still bruised from his heavy handed slap on the show-

''Sorry baby, want me to make it all better?''

He offered bobbing his brows invitingly.

Kim's tummy flipped at the prospect, his dirty grin turning her on instantly.

''Oh my god! Are you two fucking!'' Nathan yelled from the door way, covering his eyes in disgust.

Kim immediately got off Jeff's all too willing body and laughed-

''Nathan, _no we're not fucking_, we're both fully clothed, calm down you big prude.''

Warily he uncovered one of his eyes, checking and they were in deed fully clothed.

''Thank god, I just _never need to see that!''_

''Aren't you surprised that I'm kissing your sister?'' Jeff inquired trying his best to hide his erection.

The younger guy scoffed- ''Oh please! You've looked at her like she was lunch for all the years I've known you, I'm kinda used to it.''

Kim looked at Jeff and giggled.

Nathan cocked a brow at his sister- ''You're no better, every time he takes his shirt off, you're grinning like a maniac. Face it neither of you are innocent here.''

She rolled her eyes knowing that Jeff was lit up like a Christmas tree at that little slice of truth. She didn't even need to look at him to know that he was smiling, she could practically _feel _the smile radiating her back.

Guiding her brother out to the dining room, he looked back at her frowning

''So are you and him officially together now or something?''

She shrugged- ''I don't know, he's just dumped Gail Kim, I don't know if he's wanting to date anyone just yet.''

Nathan got a thoughtful look on his face and said- ''Well don;t you think you should ask him out right what his intentions are?''

''His _intentions?_ Nate are you 19 or 85?''

The teenager checked his toffee coloured spiked hair in the mirror and rolled his eyes-

''Would you rather it was me or gran asking these things?''

Jeff joined the two siblings- ''Asking what?''

Nathan turned, crossing his slender arms over his chest and said frankly- ''What your intentions towards my sister are.''

Kim brought out all the serving dishes from the kitchen, cheeks burning as her brother took a stand in the name of her honour.

Jeff had never seen the kid look so determined in all of the time he'd known him, the Carter genes were over ruling the Salinas genes, this kid meant business.

Kim waved her arms getting their attention- ''can we just sit down and eat please?''

''Fine, but Jeff- I still want an answer.''

Jeff looked at Kim sat beside her brother and just said- ''I think we should just tell him.''

''Tell me what?''

She sighed- ''Ok here goes...Nate, mom knows so does Jessica, but your dad doesn't and you need to keep a lid on this ok?''

''Ok I promise, now please, spill it.''

She beckoned for Jeff to go ahead and tell him.

''Ok then, it's like this- 18 months ago...your sister and I got...married in Vegas.''

The teenagers fork clattered down on to his plate-

''Fuck off!''

Jeff smothered his laughter- ''I'm serious.''

The teen quickly got caught up to speed in his head-

''Whoa there Hardy, so you're telling me that you were cheating on my sister with that whore Gail?''

Kimberly pushed her brother back down into his seat- ''Calm down Raging Bull, it's been a strange 18 months ok? We haven't been living as husband and wife, I'm hardly blameless either, so don't be pissed at him.''

''Gran is going to be so pissed, she'd gonna hog tie you and cut off your balls, she was the rodeo champ in her day she's be able to do it in under a minute.'' Nathan said honestly.

''_Please _don't tell her!'' Kim begged.

Jeff nodded- ''Let me live through that barbecue and we'll go from there.''

They told Nathan how they came up with the idea to get married and he got a brain wave-

''Wow, I guess that makes us brothers in law.''

The next day all three of them were busy getting ready for the barbecue, or as Jeff had started calling it- 'Purgatory with free food.'

He was agonising over what to wear, he knew that whatever he chose Maralyn Carter would hate it, he could dress immaculately and it'd turn out to be his _face _that would be the problem, instead of his clothes. There was no pleasing that woman.

She stood in the door way of Jeff's bedroom smiling silently as he looked from one shirt to the other, stood just in his red and blue Spiderman boxers-

''Wear the black one, you always look good in that one, makes your eyes stand out.''

He jumped slightly, not expecting her to be there, but when he looked at her he couldn't believe his eyes. She was stood there in a white cotton dress, with tiny red polka dots, a fitted body, thin straps and a skirt that flared out at her hips and came to just above her knees, she looked like a vision of 1950's innocence.

Her long chocolate locks were back in a single braid, her bangs perfectly in place. On her small feet were a pair of low heeled cherry red t-bar heels-

''Wow, you look so beautiful.''

She blushed and only slightly cringing at the 'B' word- ''Guess there's a lady under all the 'Fuck's' and wrestling after all huh?''

He buckled his belt and buttoned up his shirt, walked closer to her and lay the softest of kisses on her soft full lips-

''I always _knew _you were a lady.''

He stroked her jaw, then saw the ink covering his hands and he felt that he had no business touching this pure, beautiful young woman with hands like his.

She saw the change in his face, the happy wonder transformed all too quickly into sadness and anxiety-

''What's wrong?''

''Maybe I should cover my tattoos up a little more.'' he suggested.

She took his gorgeous face in her hands and asked- ''Where's my sexy bad ass gone? Don't try to hide, there's no reason to...I like how you look and your ink is incredible.''

Hearing her softly accented endearments, relaxed him and made him feel whole again-

''You like bow I look?''

She couldn't help but giggle, hating that she blushed so much under his gaze and close proximity- ''Come on, you know how good looking you are, girls have been throwing themselves at you for well over a decade now.''

''so, I don't care what they think, but I do care what _you think.''_

''Fine, yes you're gorgeous, I've always thought so. Way back when I was 15, almost 16, watching you on TV at the 2001 Royal Rumble, you came out first and I was done for.''

''Fuck, that's a long crush!'' he said smiling as he took all of it in.

''So, believe me, I _know _what I'm talking about. Now put on your shoes, we need to get there soon.''

Jeff was dreading it, so he swooped in and kissed her passionately.

''Jesus quit it! Every time I walk past an open bedroom door I seem to see you two sucking face, please stop.'' Nathan begged, walking past them shielding his eyes.

10 minutes later they were in Kim's black SUV on the way to the Carter house. To call it a 'house' was an understatement, it was a big white mansion really, with a terracotta roof, big security gates and cameras mounted on top of the gate pillars.

''Maybe we should have had a pre-nup?'' Jeff joked.

Kim smiled and gave said- ''Well, your proposal only gave me one hours notice, lawyers don't work that fats even for Carter money.''

Pulling through the gates, Jeff was careful not to hit any of the flower filled urns as he parked beside Dixie and Serg's car. They got the bottle of wine and headed out to the garden. Sure enough, there was Maralyn Carter at the grill, 5ft10, white bobbed hair, as imposing and scary as Jeff remembered. Brandishing a deadly looking barbecue fork like it was primed and ready to kill.

Kim lay a hand on his lower back, urging him to carry on walking.

Serg spotted them- ''Hey, the kids are here.''

Grandpa, looked up from his newspaper, his ever present cigar in bis hand-

''Well look who's with the kids- Jeffrey, welcome back son.''

Jeff smiled shaking Reuben's hand and said quietly- ''Something tells me that showing up is the lesser of two evils.''

Reuben smiled and shoved a freshly clipped cigar into Jeff's mouth and lit it for him- ''Well, son just think of her like that in Jurassic Park- don't make any sudden movements or you'll quickly learn how that goat felt.''

Jeff exhaled the cigar smoke and smiled, loving that this guy was the only man in the state who dared say that kind of stuff out loud.

Kim and Nathan hugged their gran and Kim said-

''Please don't go drawing the battle lines today, I don't think I can take another family gathering with you picking on him.''

''Then tell your little painted circus freak to keep his smart mouth shut. There's no room for back talk in my house, not even from your boyfriend.''

''Gran, he's _not_ my boyfriend.''

Jeff, feeling emboldened by his chat with grandpa, jokingly asked- ''Why? Am I not good enough?''

Maralyn looked at him, barely any expression on her hard face, not censoring her words as she said it, right to his face-

''_No!_ Quite frankly, you're _not _good enough, by any stretch of the imagination!''

The smile fell from his face.

Kimberly looked at her gran- ''I'll decide who's _good enough _for me thank you.''

''Well, it's _not him!''_

Dixie guided a shell shocked Jeff Hardy into a lawn chair, put a beer in his hand and patted his shoulder very maternally. Then went straight over to her mother-

''Can we at the very least for one day _pretend_ to be a fully functional family, even if it's bullshit?''

Maralyn pinned her daughter with her piercing blue eyes and said coldly as she pointed the fork at Jeff-

''_THAT_ is not my family!''

Kimberly had to bite her tongue to hold back the truth of just how untrue her gran's words actually were. Revealing the marriage would do nobody any favours, it'd only sign Jeff's death warrant.

''_That,_ as you called him, is a _person_ with feelings, a _person_ who is always respectful to you, when you know you don't deserve it.'' she said stalking off to sit beside Jeff.

He was smoking a cigar, trying not to have an out burst, because he didn't want to spoil the day, he chanced a look at Kimberly- oh yeah she was totally pissed now!

_(Kimberly)_

_Fucking family! What is it with rich old women? They think that money and age gives then a god given right to act like ignorant bitches! Jeff has the patience of a saint when it comes to my gran. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he'd dragging me to a divorce lawyer by the end of this day. Poor guy!_

He reluctantly went up to the grill last, but putting off the task only made him more anxious. Stood a few feet from the woman he felt a sharp pain in his side, he yelped, seeing Maralyn holding the long fork smiling-

''Oh, so sorry Jeffrey, I'd hate for _one little prick_ to ruin your whole day, like one is ruining mine right now.''

She dumped his food on to the plate in her hand- ''There you go Jeffrey- eat- I dare you to.''

He glared at the fiery old woman, her smile never faltering once, he crossed his arms over his chest and said-

''Oh you wanna play games huh? Well how about this one, you know the one where I tell you that I _married_ your only grand daughter 18 months ago and get this- _we don't have a pre-nup.''_

Maralyn's eyes grew incandescent with rage, he turned to swagger off, to enjoy his victory, not anticipating for a second that she'd have the come back that she did.

She snatched up the metal serving tray that had been holding the hot dogs and hit him over the back of the head with it.

Everyone was stunned as Jeff was sent tumbling to the lawn, surrounded by hot dogs, groaning in pain.

''You son of a bitch!'' Maralyn yelled, ready to hit him a second time with the now badly dented tray.

Nathan and Serg ran up and wrestled the tray out of her grasp, as Kim and Reuben picked Jeff up, he wasn't badly hurt, just shaken up.

Dixie looked at her mother- ''What the hell!''

Maralyn looked angrily at her grand child- ''Are you two married? Tell me now!''

Kimberly wanted to crawl in a hole- ''What? Who told you?''

Serg looked at his wife and knew that Dixie knew.

''Jeffrey did! So is it true?''

Maralyn yelled.

Jeff put his arm around Kimberly protectively- ''Yes it's true!''

''You stupid little girl! Don't you see what he's after?''

Something inside of Kim just snapped, she couldn't take any more of the woman's heavy handed ways-

''He's not after fucking money!''

''Watch your mouth! You get that marriage annulled or else!''

''Or else what?''

''Or you're out of the will, no inheritance!''

Kim cocked a brow- ''FUCK THE WILL! FUCK THE MONEY! AND FUCK YOU! I'm married deal with it, I'm not getting divorced, Jeff doesn't believe in divorce anyway!''

Nathan could see that his sister was getting beyond pissed, he knew that if they didn't get her out of there, gran would end up with that tray shoved down her throat. He took the car keys from Jeff and urged them both to follow him-

''Come on guys, we should go.''

Kim looked at her step father and said- ''Don't blame mom, she only found out a few days ago, blame me.''

Serg hugged Kimberly and said in her ear- ''I don't sweetheart, I don't blame you.''

20 minutes later they were back home and from the couch with Willow at his feet Jeff said-

''I'm so sorry.''

''It's ok, it had to come out some time.''

''No...I mean about puking in the car.'' he said feeling embarrassed.

She chuckled- ''It's ok, you got _most_ of it out of the window. Oh and you're sleeping in my room tonight, I need to wake you up every hour to make sure your not dead from a concussion.''

''Any excuse to get me into your bed.'' he winked.

She pushed a lock of his coloured hair behind his ear and asked- ''So, will you still like me when I'm financially cut off?''

He saw her grin and stroked a finger down her cute nose- ''Well, I'll put up with it, but only because you're hot.''

''Oh you've got jokes huh?''

''I got beaten up by your gran, it's just my pride and dignity on the floor, not my sense of humour.''

She laughed, kissing his softly- ''Good or you'd have lost every shred of appeal, especially after the puking.'' she teased.

**AN: I hope that it was ok. Next will be the beginning of their on screen romance.**

**R&R please ;)**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: thank you to all the reviewers, you guys rock. **

******A special shout out goes to xErikax for joining me on the battle lines. When someone (who we shall not name) took it upon herself to STEAL my plot for ''Another Me.'' then lied her thieving arse off bout it, but the lack of reviews for said- plagiarised work speaks volumes.**

**So cheers my dear it'll be interesting to see if she does a second chapter. Lol.**

**Thank you lovely people, enjoy the update, I went a bit crazy with this one- GRAN IS BACK!**

**R&R**

Friend?Lover?Stranger?

Chapter 7

After an interesting night sharing a bed, having to wake him up every hour, Kimberly just wanted to sleep even more when morning came. Every time she'd woken him up he'd sleepily come on to her, then revert to snoring before he got the corny pick up line finished.

At the arena where they were having their one-off show, she sat in the locker room with Jessica, each holding their Knockouts Tag Team Championship belts, sombrely knowing that this show would be their last entrance as the respected champions-

''We had a good reign.'' Jess said putting a strong arm around Kim.

''Second longest reign in TNA history...I'm proud of that.'' Kimberly said, a bitter sweet smile crept across her mouth and raised her can of Dr Pepper- ''Here's to us- for keeping the titles credibility alive.''

Jessica raised her Pepsi and toasted- ''To us!''

In his locker room Jeff was getting ready, knowing that it was a big night for both of them, he didn't want to crowd her, she was having her girl time with Jess. He knew that it sucked for the pair, giving up their titles, especially to Gail and Madison of all people!

Yet, that was how creative and the GM Hulk Hogan ran things- to gain something later you had to give up something else now. Nothing was ever a win-win. Yet Jeff felt like this was his fault, that he was costing them the belts for kissing her and causing even more friction between her and Gail.

At the entrance to the arena, it had been plunged into small scale chaos as Maralyn Carter flung the security men aside scowling at them for daring to touch her-

''My money pays your salaries! Now scurry off and do your little jobs else where and let the _important people_ do things that actually matter!''

In her impeccably tailored cream trouser suit and styled hair, she flounced into the arena and glared at anyone who was dumb enough to meet her cold blue eyes. They shrunk back in fear, knowing that this woman despite her 67 years of age, was one scary old bitch! Even Bully Ray had the sense to pull his cap lower down and turn the other way, gladly ducking out of her way.

Maralyn saw a tall man with bleached straight blonde hair and a matching bleached handle bar moustache and a bandanna, she snapped her fingers to get his attention.

''Hey, _you there!''_

Hulk turned to see the rude owner of that snap and saw a tall woman, clearly stinking rich and in possession of no manners at all-

''Can I help you _ma'am?''_

She walked right up to him and shamelessly scrutinized him with clear distaste-

''I doubt it, but lets see- I need to speak to my grand daughter.''

''Who might she be?''

''Kimberly Carter.''

Hulk realised then that this was the woman who'd laid out Jeff Hardy! He was no longer embarrassed for the kid, he was now full of sympathy, he could feel the woman's bitch vibes radiating his own eye balls-

''Down the hall, second door on your left after the coke machine.''

She didn't thank him, nod or anything, she just walked off leaving a cloud of Chanel No5 in her wake. Hulk shook his head, that was one really tough woman, thankfully he'd never have to be in Jeff's shoes, that woman was a rotweiler!

There was no knocking, the door was thrown open and in walked Kim's gran-

''Oh do come in.'' she said sarcastically.''

Maralyn folded her arms over her chest- ''Don't mind if I do.''

Her steely eyes slid to Jessica- ''Take a walk.''

Jessica nodded, knowing when to pick her battles- ''No problem, I've got my new script to pick up from creative. See you in a little while.''

Kim stood up in her army green shorts and fitted waist coat, her pink sports bra clearly on show- god damn perverts in wardrobe strike again! She set her belt aside and looked at her gran-

''Didn't enough get said yesterday?''

''Not by a long shot, lets sit I need to talk properly and my ass is too old to be stood up.''

They sat and Maralyn sighed-

''I'm not going to beat about the bush, it's like this- I'm just trying to look out for you and your interests and _yes _that means _financially!_ There's a reason I hate that boy- he's quick sand and I didn't _ever _want to see him drag you down.''

''You don't even know him!''

''Honey that's where you're wrong. When your mom rescued this company from ruin, I did my home work, not only about existing staff, but ones at your dads company too. So I know everything about everyone who climbs into this ring here and the one under your dad's beady eye too. I know that Jeffreybattled drug addiction for years now, that he's been to jail, hell homey I even know his SAT results and blood type, you name it.''

Kim was stunned- ''I guess money opens a lot of doors, even ones marked 'Private' huh?''

''Kimberly his indiscretions are anything but _private_. Now he's your husband and I never want to see you hurt and disappointed because he can't stay clean.''

''I've got faith in his, I've stood by him through it all.''

Maralyn looked her dead in the eye- ''And look at what he does- he slips every time. I have to say it he gets a lot more out of knowing you, than you do out of knowing him. Only now you're bound by law and he could very much get _everything _out of you.''

''Stop talking about money!''

''Fine! But that _husband _of yours is going to hurt you, I see how you look at him, you've always been in love with him and he _will _hurt you and he _will _let you down again! Just for once in your life be a Carter and protect your heart!''

Kim was frozen in shock when her gran kissed her on the cheek, hugged her and just left without another word.

Maralyn grabbed the closest passer by, by the plaid shirt, the guy under the cowboy hat and shades looked at her-

''Can I help you ma'am?''

''Jeff Hardy, where is he?''

''Three doors down.''

Unhanding him she walked on, lighting a cigarette, the bearded cowboy called-

''There's no smoking allowed back here ma'am!''

All he got was a perfectly manicured middle finger shot at him and he drawl calling out-

''Stick it up your ass cowboy!''

She once again barged into the locker room, Jeff was sat on the couch drawing, still in his street clothes.

He wasn't in a match tonight due to his concussion. He looked up and was in no way expecting to see who'd just entered.

''We need to talk Jeffrey.''

He closed his sketch book, laying on top of his bag- ''If you start with an apology I won't call security.''

She blew out a lung full of smoke- 'You can forget that straight away! And security have already been dealt with, if you get my meaning.''

He rolled his eyes knowing that she'd have sent them running scared.

''So, _I'll_ talk and _you'll_ just shut the hell up ok? Great! My grand daughter is a smart girl, smarter than she gives herself credit for, she sees right through people, but she's not smart when it comes to one area- _You! _With you, she's _dumb_. Hell she married your screwed up ass- point proven.''

''Just why do you hate me so much?'' Jeff growled.

She blew smoke in his face-

''Because you never fail to hurt her!''

''I've _never _done that!''

''You blind selfish fool, every time you have a pathetic relapse you break her more! She put herself on the line to save your ass when you should have just been thrown out on it!''

''What are you talking about?''Jeff was lost now, she was honestly confusing him.

''She never told you huh? Figures. Well Jeffrey our girl is the _only_ reason you're still employed here.''

''How?''

Maralyn continued smoking taking her time to answer, she went at her own pace, not his-

''Well, after your little 'Victory Road' televised drug binge and you crawled into the ring high as a fucking kite, you were going to be _fired on the spot!_ Hell you were going to be sued and basically crucified, but loyal to a fault- Kimberly saved your entire career.''

This was all news to him, she'd saved his job?

''How do you know all of this?''

''Because Jeffrey I own 25% of this company along side my daughter, it's not all Dixie's money that saved the good ship TNA from hitting the rocks. So it's my business to know if my gran daughter took the bullet for you.''

Jeff gulped, his mouth suddenly painfully dry- ''W-what did she do?''

''She gave up her future Knockouts Championship, she was set to win and she paid every penny of your fine too, all $250,000 of it. So, you mind telling me what sent you into the downward spiral, because all she'd tell any of us was that it was all her fault!''

In his stunned state he nodded and said shakily- ''Erm she...she asked me if we could talk...it was about an hour before my match with Sting...we'd been married for about 6 months by then. We go to my locker room, I sit there waiting and she just looks at me and says calmly- _'I think we should get a divorce.'_...I just couldn't think straight, it was the last thing I wanted...but I couldn't say that to her...so I...''

Maralyn nodded and rolled her eyes-

''So you did what you do best- took a cheap way out and got high- _pathetic!_ And you wonder why I hate you, you're weak, you'll hurt her again and take her money!''

''NO! I've been clean for a year, I'm in love with her and I don't need to _take_ her money, I have my own.''

She stared at him amused- ''You _what?''_

''I have my own money.'' he repeated.

''No retard! Not about the money- the _love _part, you're in _love _with her?''

Jeff didn't answer, he hated her knowing anything personal or private about him, he looked away from her, but her rough hand grabbed his face-

''Oh so you do huh? Well, let me tell you something and consider this me being _kind-_ first of all- if she _ever _asks you for a divorce again, you set aside your beliefs on divorce and you will fucking sign the papers or I'll hunt you down and I _will kill you!_ Secondly- you fall off the wagon again and _I will kill you!''_

She shoved his face away from her, blowing smoke in it- ''Oh and last thing- you ever try to get greedy and play the gold digger, I'll drag you through every court in the country, you _will_ lose everything you own. You'll be selling your ass to 50-something business men on a street corner to pay your legal bills, because you'll _never_ work in wrestling again.''

Jeff nodded.

''Glad we understand each other Jeffrey, because I make one bitter enemy, just ask Vince McMahon. Ever wonder why his little company hit such hard times after the Attitude Era? He hurt my Kimberly and a few greased palms later I had him cutting salaries and popping the blood pressure pills like they were candy. So if I can take that egotistical billionaire to that point, what do you think I can do to one of the little people like you? Jeffrey you're just sport to me!''

She stubbed her cigarette out on the back of his iphone and said-

''Tread very carefully or you're life is over, in _every_ sense of the word.''

Then she was gone.

Kimberly saw Jessica come back into the locker room brandishing a blue and white script envelope-

''I'm getting married!''

''What?''

Jess whipped the script out and handed it to Kim- ''Read it!''

Doing as she was told she got reading and erupted into laughter-

''Oh my fucking god! They're marrying you off to Mr Banana Hammock!''

''Yes! They're marrying me off to _Eric Young! _Those sons of bitches, don't they see that this is just what he wants!''

''Well, it's your fault for leading him on.'' Kim teased.

''Leading him on? it was _one date _and that was only because he wouldn't stop asking me...Jesus I'm going to get called _Mrs Banana Hammock_ by everyone we work with now!''

They got interrupted by the stage hand calling them, their match was up next. Setting the nightmare script aside, they got their titles on their shoulders, hugged and headed down for their final match as champions.

They passed Daniel, who blanked her, she just rolled her eyes at tag mate, Dan was being childish now.

At the monitor bay Jeff saw Kim and Jessica, they both looked sad, they were giving up an actual title and he was the cause of it. Once again he was making her career take an impromptu turn.

He knew that he had to make their story line something special and memorable, he'd make it up to her, he'd make her proud of him again.

Gail and Madison had just entered the ring and Kim turned to Jeff and said-

''As we're losing the titles, lets make out little interlude a great one, lets just go for broke.;;

Jeff smiled- ''Sure thing babe.''

Jessica saw Eric Young smiling over at her, in his silk bath robe, clutching a big bunch of red roses, ready for their first on screen ''romance'' scene. She cringed knowing what was coming up for her character.

Their music 'Bad Reputation' by Joan Jett blasted through the arena and off they went as Christie Hemme announced them, they got huge cheers, this was Kim's home city crowd. The pair soaked up the atmosphere on the way to the ring, ignoring Gail indicating to her waist where the belt would find it's new home- bitch!

Jumping over the ropes the pair climbed the turn buckles and raised the titles one last time as Kim shot Gail the finger he usual grin plastered on her face as Gail scowled.

Jess was in full ODB character and did a 'BAM' at the closest camera and the match began and they probably put on the best match of their whole careers as a tag team, they made the fans laugh as they brought back an old move- 'The Double Wham Bam!' where they ran at their opponent from the front and back and slammed into her with their sizeable racks winding her.

Kimberly got Gail into the ring and knew that the match was coming to it's conclusion soon, so she did her absolute best and was the constant pro, not rising to any of Gail's smack talk about Jeff or losing. So instead of the planned Moonsault, Kim did a move that sent the crown and Mike and Taz on commentary into a frenzy. Kim did a perfect Swanton Bomb!

As planned Gail moved and Kim got ''winded'' and got pinned and the bell rang out, it was over.

Both girls were so genuinely gutted that they didn't have to act at all, this was a truly sad occasion for them both.

ODB sat on the metal steps to the ring, head in her hands, Kim sat inside the ring back against the turn buckle in the same corner hating those two for parading the belts they'd never really worked for, damn them they were going to ruin the credibility of the tag titles!

Their gloating was cut short by Eric Young's music firing up and out he ran with his mic and his roses-

''ODB- my love, my buxom beauty- I'm here for you in your hour of need!''

He ran down the ramp to her shedding his robe, revealing his camouflage banana hammock trunks and matching bow tie as he presented ODB with the roses and said-

''I'm here for you- emotionally, physically and any hour of the day or night _sexually!''_

Jessica had to fight the urge to gag as she gave him a face full of her rack and she picked him up in a fireman's lift (with ease) and carried him off much to the fans approval.

Kim then heard Jeff's music fire up, Gail and Madison were livid as the Enigma stole even more of their thunder. She saw him in his street clothes run down the ramp and slide into the ring. He put out a hand to her, head titled to the side, a charming smile on his face, she took his hand and got to her feet.

He saw the devilish glint in her green eyes, she then Irish Whipped him into the corner and she leapt on him. The kiss was HOT, her legs weren't just wrapped around him, they were around the turn buckle too, he was trapped.

Jeff threw caution to the wind and grabbed some ass while he was at it, they were already French kissing on live TV, a bit of groping wasn't going to hurt anything.

Kimberly smiled at him and winked.

On the way up the ramp she got a little bit of payback- she slapped his ass in full view of everyone, leaving a sizeable bruise she's bet.

The fans went crazy- yes they'd done good.

**AN: I hope you all enjoyed it, poor ODB haha. I think Kim and Jeff should have a real date soon, what do you think? let me know ;)**

**R&R please. Xxx.**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: thank you to everyone who has reviewed, as always you keep me motivated. This chapter is based on the most bizarre double date I've ever been on in my life and the 'banana' conversation REALLY happened to my friend on the date, this will all make sense when you read on. Lol. You'll also understand why me and my guy hardly ate at all on this double date but got very drunk.**

**Enjoy.**

**I only own my Ocs.**

Friend?Lover?Stranger?

Chapter 8

Kimberly was in the shower at the arena and she was still smiling to herself at how Jessica had practically had to make a stealth get away from the building. She'd borrowed one of Bully's base ball caps and one of Devon's huge hoodies and disguised herself to escape the amorous attentions of a certain Eric Young. The man seemed dead set on bringing their on screen romance into their lives off screen too.

Poor Jessica!

Kimberly was applying her conditioner when she heard-

''Baby I think we should _finally _go on a first date.''

She jumped a mile,nearly slipping on a patch of conditioner she'd dropped on the shower stall floor, she peeked out of the pink shower curtain and there was Jeff sat on the bench by the sinks with a very thoughtful look on his handsome face-

''Jeff, get out of here right now mister.''

He smirked- ''Come on! We're married for gods sake and we've already slept together a few times, stop freaking out- so about this _date.''_

Kim pondered- ''Well it'd be our _first date_..._ever.''_

''Exactly...you don't have to make up your mind right now, we can wait until we're back in Florida before we do.''

She nodded- ''Ok,lets talk about it when I'm _not_ in a shower.''

He winked- ''Agreed, I'll wait in your locker room when for when you're not so naked and tempting.''

As she got dried, she began wondering about this date, all the time they'd been kissing and messing around lately, she'd honestly never thought he'd be the one asking for a date, part of her thought Jeff would be leaving that up to her- thankfully not. She'd have felt awkward so once again Jeff Hardy delivers a lovely surprise.

She pulled on her black denim shorts and a plain black tank top and started drying her hair, not even bothering with the straighteners, she was far too tired from the match, so she let her natural curls and waves take shape.

Jeff waited patiently,with Maralyn's revelations about Kim saving his entire career playing through his mind on a loop, he owed Kim so much. In his heart he just wanted to show her his appreciation and how much she meant to him. He wanted to be married ...no that wasn't enough, he wanted a _marriage._ The whole deal- the closeness, the sharing and the love. He wanted Kimberly to _love him back._

He hoped that her liking him could grow into so much more in time, he wouldn't force it, he's let it develop in it's own time.

He saw her enter the main locker room looking just like she had when they'd first been introduced all those years ago by her mom. He'd just been signed and Dixie had asked Kimberly to show him around the Impact Zone and she's been wearing this kind of out fit- shorts, tank top and the same Dr Martins- black with red, yellow and orange flames up the ankles. He smiled-

''You look good Mrs Hardy.''

''Well,thanks Mr Hardy.'' she winked grabbing her bag and leather jacket.

They spent the night at her house with Nathan watching the late movie. Jeff and Kim shared a bed too, nothing too heavy just a few kissed and they fell asleep spooning like they used to.

The next day they caught their flight back to Orlando, they'd gotten talking on the flight about maybe getting away from the whole ''hotel'' and group shared apartment living that the rest of the roster favoured and maybe renting a place in Orlando together, but having separate rooms. Dixie had them sharing a hotel room again already, so it wouldn't be that much of a stretch really.

Once they got to their shared room they started to go over details-

''I know that we love our real homes, but it'd make more sense than flying home between shows.'' Jeff suggested seriously- ''We have talked about it before when we were just friends.''

She lay back on her side of the huge bed-

''This is a big 180 turn from the guy who swore he'd never lay down roots any place other than North Carolina.''

He shrugged- ''Well, it's not forever.''

Kim held back the flinch that those very chilling words drew from her- _well it's not forever!_

(Kimberly)

_WOW! Didn't I feel fucking special!_

_It was almost like he was out shoe shopping and he was just trying me on for size. I got this mental picture of us in a rented place, getting along just fine and dandy until the first bump in the road. Suddenly he was packing all of his shit and hitting the road saying- 'I told you that it was wasn't forever baby' _

_While throwing me a half hearted wave over his shoulder._

_I don't like feeling like this. Like I'm the temporary wife, like his ''starter marriage'' the one where he learns what NOT to do, in preparation for when he finds his REAL happiness, when he's grown I to the perfect husband, pre-broken of all of the bad habits._

_Fuck, it's like I've been hired to 'break' an unruly horse, so that when some other bitch comes along she's got the perfectly behaved stallion to ride._

_WHOA THAT SOUNDS SOOO WRONG EVEN JUST IN MY OEN HEAD!_

_That made up my mind, I had to know if we could survive one date, before I got any more emotionally invested. I needed some advise and I knew just who to go to._

That evening Kimberly agreed to meet Jessica in the hotel bar, but what they hadn't figured on was being joined by Eric Young half way through their little chat.

Kim said- ''So, there's a lot of pressure.''

''Well, what you two need is a buffer, a couple to ease those sometimes weird silences.''

Eric's eyes lit up, his arm going around Jess's waist- ''Look no further Miss Carter, we;re your buffers, the double date is set! I'll see you two ladies and Mr Hardy here tomorrow night, I'm off to make reservations right now.''

As Eric scampered off singing- '_Love is in the Air'_ the two girls exchanged worried looks. Jessica signalled the bar tender-

''Four shots of your strongest- I don't even mind what- please kind sir.''

''How the hell did this become a double date?'' Kim inquired still baffled.

Jess cringed downing her two shots in no time-

''It's be too much to ask to have someone suave and sexy trying to seduce me! Where's Matt Morgan and Frankie Kazarian when you need hot, hard nasty sex?''

''Morgan and Kazarian huh?'' Kim smirked, loving the image.

''Fuck yeah!''Jess nodded- ''But who do I get? The love child of Woody from 'Cheers' and a 1970's porn star.''

Kim took a shot trying not to laugh- ''He's annoying-yes and is not an alpha male by a long shot but...it could be worse.''

Jessica groaned- ''Easy for you to say, you'll have Jeff at the end of the night, being all romantic, and look who I'll have...Mr Banana Hammock! Trying to seduce me while wearing his skimpy briefs.''

''So _this _is how a guy feels when a pushy woman comes along, you're on the other side of a guys worst nightmare.''

''Yep and I _already_ feel like the guy of the situation, yes I'm used to being in charge of situations but at times...I wanna be the girl...I want all of the romance, a guy being tough and strong and sweeping me off my feet.''

Kim smiled- ''Well, Eric does bring you flowers, not many guys do that any more they think it's too soft, but it's romantic.''

Jess did agree there- ''Fine, but I'm not caving, not to guy who wears smaller panties that I do! I draw the line somewhere!''

Jeff looked up from his sketch book and saw Kimberly enter their room smiling-

''Hey there Jeffro, I've got something to run by you.''

He saw her bite her lip nervously, so he patted the bed and urged her to come sit with him. She sat Indian style in front of him.

''Run it by me then beautiful.''

She flushed at the 'B' word but shook it off-

''Ok...well this date idea of yours, I think that it's a great idea. Is tomorrow night in the hotel restaurant good for you?''

He took both of her hands in his- ''that sounds perfect.''

''Great, but hold that thought...I was talking to Jess in the bar, there was a slight screw up.''

''How?''

''Well, we're going on a double date.''

Jeff had all kinds of scenarios running through his head, none of them good- ''Oh Christ, who's coming with us?''

''Jess and _Eric Young.''_

He got a grin on his face that made his dimples pop.

''You're not mad at me?''she frowned.

''No, do you know how funny this date is going to be? We're not going to even need to go to the movies, he's going to be awesome, he'll be pulling out all the stops.''

He couldn't believe his first _official date_ with Kim was going to be like this, but he knew that it was going to be memorable to say the least.

Kim saw Jeff's green eyes light up-

''Hey, imagine what he's going to wear for his hot date.''

She smirked- ''Stop enjoying this so much, you can imagine what state Jessica is in. she's caught some where between dread and hysterical laughter and not the good kind.''

''Why did she agree?''

''Babe she didn't have a choice, he was running off singing 'L_ove is in the Air_' before she could stop him.''

''Jesus, I predict some hard core wooing will be getting planned as we speak.''

She cocked a brow- ''Well, I just hope all of his effort doesn't put you to shame Jeffro.''

''Shame? Me? I was quite romantic when I popped the question to you.''

''No you weren't you got me drunk.'' she laughed.

He threw a pillow at her- ''See- drunk and I _still_ put a ring on your finger, I'm such a gentleman. Speaking of- where is your ring?''

''It's in my bad with my passport. Where's yours?''

He pulled out his key chain and there it was, the plain gold band on the chain-

''It's never far from me.''

''Mine either.'' she whispered.

So, the following night came and their 7:30pm date arrived. The girls got ready in Jessica's room and Kimberly could tell Jess was freaking out as she got changed into her black skinny jeans and a black one shoulder top.

''Nervous?''

''More like anxious babe. How about you- going on your first date...with your _husband?''_

Kim zipped up her dark purple body con dress and sighed- ''nervous and yet glad that we didn't do this 18 months ago.''

Jessica nodded, zipping up her flat knee boots and putting in her hoop ear rings.

''Wow Jess you look so hot!''

''too much?'' she worried.

''No, it's perfect.''

''Well, Jeff is going to swallow his tongue when he sees you in that dress. You do realise that after this date he's going to be all over you right?''

Kimberly smiled-''That might be my plan.''

The girls got down to the restaurant and saw that Jeff was the first one there, in a dark blue shirt and black jeans, his black and magenta hair freshly re-dyed and tied back in a bun as usual, he looked gorgeous!

''You girls look stunning.'' He smiled, but his eyes were glued to Kimberly and he didn't give a shit if anyone from the roster saw him openly kissing Kim, she was with him and it was about time that they all got a clue!

''Save it for the end of the date Hardy.'' Jessica joked.

Jeff laughed and then pointed across the room- ''Speaking of dates, here comes your Miss Kresa.''

All three of them looked and they just couldn't miss Eric, he was wearing a mint green suit, a matching ruffled shirt and a lime green bow tie.

''Oh my fucking good god!'' Jessica downed her first glass of wine- ''I'm gonna need more of this or something way stronger!''

Kim topped up her glass and said-

''Wow, how did he find matching shoes?''

Jeff had to shove a piece of bread into his mouth to keep from laughing as Eric strutted over and then presented Jess with a slightly squashed yellow rose-

''For my lady.''

''Erm...thanks?'' she said accepted it, scowling over at Jeff who was going red in the face already from holding back laughter.

Kim smiled at Eric- ''Good evening- you look great.''

''Thank you, I look my best in green.'' he nodded taking his seat.

''That you do.'' Kim agreed grabbing her menu to hide behind, her face was aching already from holding back the smiles and she refused to be rude and laugh openly, it was unkind.

They got through the starters without any kind of disasters, but when they got to the main course, Jeff had to grip Kimberly's hands to keep from exploding into laughter at the other couple.

Jessica's boots were killing her feet and her toes began to cramp up-

''Ow ow ow my frickin' toes!'' she growled.

Eric was full of concern, he spun her and drew her boot clad foot in to his lap-

''Cramp? You need to get a banana into you!''

Kimberly saw Jessica's jaw drop and she slapped away Eric's hands-

''Hey! I don't know what kind of kinky shit you're into, but you can keep your kinky food-play away from me mister!''

Eric was waving his hands in defence- ''No! I didn't mean ''_in you''_ I meant to _eat_ one potassium lessens cramping.''

Kimberly and Jeff were clutching hands and hiding behind napkins, they were so close to losing it by this point.

By dessert Jeff thought it was hilarious to order a _banana split_ for him and Kim to share.

Jessica had had the most bizarre date of her entire life. Eric had tried to talk her into trying anything on the menu with remote chance of it being an aphrodisiac. By dessert she gave in and ordered the chocolate delicacy with a rich truffle and bitter chocolate sauce. Boy was that a mistake!

Eric's eyes nearly bigged out of the sockets when she licked the sauce from her lower lip. It didn't help that he was playing footsie with her under the table. There was no mistaking his foot for anyone elses, they were small for a guy and shod in bright green socks!

Eric looked over at Jeff and Kimberly-

''It'll be nice to have another working couple to go on dates with now.''

Jeff nodded- ''Double the romance.''

Jessica scowled over at Jeff and drained her rum and coke, then looked at her ''date''-

''Hold your horses there Young, we're _not_ a couple.''

Eric smiled, not deterred by her tone, he seized her hands- ''You like to play hard to get my tough beauty, but you'll succumb to the acquired taste that is Eric Young, I can feel it in my water already.''

Kim couldn't help it any longer she burst out laughing, to cover it Jeff smacked the lips on her very passionately.

Eric smiled at Jessica and said- ''See, tonight the romance is infectious!''

She rolled her eyes- ''Yeah, so is herpes!''

''Ooh, you like to talk dirty, I'm down with that.'' he swiped his finger through his own thick chocolate truffle dessert and sucked it from his finger tip, suggestively winking- ''Hmm, I do like things that are sweet and _very bad for me.''_

Jessica was just struck dumb, suddenly Jeff was throwing down a pile of notes, making his excuses and dragging Kimberly away from the table.

Eric smiled, from behind his glasses she saw him bob his brows – ''Ah alone at last.''

In the elevator they finally let out all of the laughter.

Jeff hugged Kim close to him-

''When he said that shit about the banana I swear I nearly choked.''

''That might have been the best first date I've ever been on.'' she said honestly.

''yeah me too.'' he agreed- ''So, what's your usual post first date rules?''

''Well, I'm not exactly a seasoned pro.'' she said honestly- ''What are your rules?''

After her first date with Jay Reso aka- Christian, they'd kissed at her hotel room door and gone their separate ways and her and Jeff were already sharing a room, so that didn't really help her at all.

''Well, I don't have sex on a first date _ever.''_ he said being serious- ''But we've already done it...so I have no idea where we stand at the moment.''

They got off at their floor and she smiled-

''Hmm, well doesn't that leave us in a strange place.''

She sighed teasingly, feeling very relaxed after her three glasses of wine.

He put the key card in the lock and in they went.

She turned to him- ''And to think that I even put on some very sexy lingerie, all for nothing at all.''

Jeff's green eyes shot straight to her as she lowered the straps of her figure hugging dress and carried on walking to the bedroom. Her dress then came flying at him, he caught it, smelling her incredible perfume. There she stood in the bedroom doorway, in purple silk lingerie and heels, looking innocent and total sin all in one incredible package.

His eyes roamed over her body then he pointed to the ink peeking above her panties in the cradle of her hips-

''Where did that come from? That wasn't there the last time we...you know!''

Kim smiled- ''See, I guess there's still so so much you need to..._rediscover.''_

That was all Jeff needed, he was _so_ up for this! Fuck his first date rules, they were married, she was his wife and he wanted her, he loved her, so was having her end of story!

**AN: I hope you liked it and as mentioned yes- that banana thing really got said to my friend on our double date, I swear that when something similar was said on 'American Dad' I was like- 'Was one of the writers there or something?'**

**but I hope it was ok.**

**Should the next chapter have some Jeff and Kim hot sex? lol. **

**R&R please. xx.**


	9. Chapter 9

AUTHORS NOTE:

Hi there, I feel like utter shit for doing this but I didn't want to just delete this story without giving you a reason, so here goes- I'm finding this story so bloody hard to write and I know exactly why too- because of 'Another Me.'

I feel that this story is no where near as good and doesn't stand up as my best work. When that little ''writer'' took it upon herself to use my ideas it pissed me off and made me want to stop writing altogether. But being the stubborn bitch that I am I'm not running away that easily!

So, I'm not going to delete this story I just won't be continuing it, and I'm so sorry because so many of you wonderful readers have reviewed and put me on alert- and I'm doing what I hate writers doing- JUMPING SHIP ON A STORY.

If it's any consolation I'm mapping out ideas for a (much requested) sequel to 'Another Me' lol.

So, thank you all for your continuing support and awesome PM chats, gives me a couple of weeks and you never know what the inner workings of my little mind will come up with in regards to my little untitled sequel.

All the thanks in the world-

Katherine

(KatieWoo)

xxxx

P.S- if any of you hate me feel free to let me know in a message, maybe I can use it as motivation to create the new Jeff, Liv and Kian story. Lol.

x.


End file.
